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Our latest foreign trip took us to the Heel of Eataly (Italy) and the 'undiscovered' region of Apulia (Puglia)Apulia The region is a must experience.
We stayed in Polignano (Hotel Covo dei Saraceni), which is south of Bari - a very quaint picturesque fishing village of 10,000, with rising limestone cliffs molded by the Adriatic.
Here are some regional statistics and information:
Apulia produces more than 50 per cent of the nation's olive oil and enormous amounts of wine and agricultural products, ie artichokes, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, figs, walnuts to name a few.
The soil is very rich, the rainfall adequate and the sea enriches the soil so the produce from the region has a natural salt flavor.
Olive trees take 6 years to mature and at 20 generally are considered to produce the best olives but many of the trees are 1000 years old.
The population of the province is about 4 million and the capital is Bari, which has about 1 million in the surrounding area.
Bari is noted for the Basilica of St Nicholas - an absolutely magnificent church.
Bari is also the home of the unique soccer stadium designed by Italy's foremost architect - Renso Piano, and he designed it in the shape of a space ship.
Our hotel served fabulous food and our room overlooked the Mediterranean.
Meryl Streep has a home in Polignano.
The region's beaches extend over 500 miles, are both rocky and sandy and no fees are charged thus making them very popular. The region is bounded by both the Adriatic as well as the Aegean,
Our guides were great, the food fabulous and weather clear and sunny with wonderful breezes.
Lecce (considered Florence south) is noted for its 17th century churches (Basilica of Santa Croce) which took so long to build that many are architecturally a combination of Roman, Baroque and Byzantine styles. Lecce is a very stylish city with a beautiful upscale shopping district.
Ostuni is a unique village of white washed homes called Trulli's.
Every trip to Europe always includes a visit to the Jewish Section but there are no Jews. They either were extinguished or fled. Now they are fleeing France because the Muslims are taking over that country one birth and one Sharia law at a time. The French are too lethargic to recognize they are going to be eaten alive.
We visited Trani and the last remaining Synagogue in the region. Prior to WW 2, the region's Jewish population was significant and totally assimilated. Today the region's Jewish population is less than 20.
To their credit the region's citizens did their best to hide and protect their Jewish population from the Nazis.
We visited a family run olive oil mill in Bisceglie as well as a winery during our visit but the highlight was the distinct cuisine of the area. Lots of fresh fish, fixed in a variety of ways but always with olive oil.
The more I learned about the positive attributes of oil I have decided to have a tablespoon each day.
Italians are friendly, very voluble and cannot speak without using their hands. They love children and life.
Eataly has become one of my most favorite places and you can purchase lovely homes there now at very distressed prices.
Italy's population is 60 million and the size of Arizona Italians enjoy long life and generally good health women 85 men 81. They attribute this to their healthy diet, little obesity and love of walking and running.
The current prime minister is only 39, very progressive in the best sense of the word and was the former mayor of Florence
He is bringing about the kind of changes the nation needs, probably eliminating their Senate, reducing government agencies and work force and making needed changes in tax structure etc.
His focus is improving productivity in manufacturing and strengthening Italy's competitive position.
I can envision Eataly becoming a model for Western nations if this Prime Minister is allowed to work his miracles.He has reduced the number of parties and unless they get 10 per cent of the vote they cannot be part of government.
I wish their prime minister would govern our country.
Italy pays a very high cost for their pensions, universal health care and education. 12 per cent are unemployed and 42 per cent of their youth. The stress of this on their economic system is also being addressed.
Apulia is ancient and traces it's beginnings long before Christ. In subsequent centuries it was inhabited and or controlled by peoples from the east as well as the west and now is being, somewhat, invaded from the south .
The peoples of the region are used to having different races live within their territory and assimilate fairly well.
A good bit of the area's structures and edifices have been designated by The U.N as Heritage Sites.
As we drove along main highways, prostitutes were sitting in chairs with umbrellas hawking their wares. Previously they were allowed to congregate in houses but the laws changed and now they are on the highways, are less controlled and therefore subject to all kind of risks and their patrons to all kind of diseases. Thought is being given to returning to the former method of housed supervision. Once again new and improved often does not work
Italy, as we know it today, was formed after WW 2 and for that reason is one of the most ancient yet contemporary major nations in Europe.
It will be fascinating to watch the progress of their new Prime Minister as he seeks to bring the nation forward and rationalize much of its social programs which have held the nation back and in political turmoil.
Italy is rich in all its basic needs and now must rebuild its industrial side having lost so much to nations with cheaper labor.
Our group was limited to 30, were very compatible and were experienced travelers.
This kaleidoscope review will be supplemented by Lynn's pictures once she has time to down load them etc.
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The logic is overwhelming! (See 1 below.)
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Is Obama fumbling away another foreign policy ball? (See 2 below.)
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Rep. Gowdy lays it on the elitist media and press dolts. (See 3 below.)
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My friend Avi and canaries! (See 4 below.)
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Dick
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1) Dear Mr. Obama:
2) Is Obama Signing Away the Last Chance to Stop the Iranian Nuclear Threat?I'm planning to move my family and extended family into Mexico for my health,
and I would like to ask you to assist me.We're planning to simply walk across the border from the U.S. into Mexico, and
we'll need your help to make a few arrangements.We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws.
I'm sure they handle those things the same way you do here. So, would you mind
telling your buddy, the President of Mexico, that I'm on my way over?Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:
1. Free medical care for my entire family.
2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need,
whether I use them or not.
3. Please print all Mexican government forms in English.
4. I want my grandkids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking (bi-lingual) teachers.
5. Tell their schools they need to include classes on American culture and history.
6. I want my grandkids to see the American flag on one of the flag poles at their school7. Please plan to feed my grandkids at school for both breakfast and lunch.
8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy access to government services.
9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but I don't plan to purchase car insurance, and I
probably won't make any special effort to learn local traffic laws.
10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from their president
to leave me alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at least one English-speaking
officer.
11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my housetop, put U.S. flag decals on my car, and have a
gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any complaints or negative comments from
the locals.
12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, or have any labor or tax laws
enforced on any business I may start.
13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be extremely nice and never say critical
things about me or my family, or about the strain we might place on their economy.
14. I want to receive free food stamps.
15. Naturally, I'll expect free rent subsidies.
16. I'll need income tax credits so that although I don't pay Mexican taxes, I'll receive money
from the government.
17. Please arrange it so that the Mexican Government pays $4,500.00 to help me buy a new car.
18. Oh yes, I almost forgot, please enroll me free into the Mexican Social Security program so
that I'll get a monthly income in retirement.I know this is an easy request because you already do all these things for all of his people who
walk over to the U.S. from Mexico. I am sure that the President of Mexico won't mind returning
the favor if you ask him nicely.Do you see how stupid this looks when you put it in writing????
Logic is dead. Excellence is punished. Mediocrity is rewarded. Dependency is to be revered.
This is present day America. When people rob banks they go to prison. When they rob the
taxpayer they get re-elected.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jonathan S. Tobin
The Iran nuclear talks resumed in Vienna today with Western negotiators still saying that their goal is to prevent Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon. But while Secretary of State John Kerry was talking toughwhen he declared that the Islamist regime faced tough decisions in the talks, now it is the Iranians who are laying down the law. On the eve of the resumption of the P5+1 negotiations,Iran’s Press TV reported that the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi declared, “The U.S. must make tough decisions in negotiations and stop threats and sanctions.” While Washington is acting as if the Iranians are blowing smoke, the initial reports coming out of today’s meetings make it clear that they are not. If, as Reuters reported, the talks have past the exploratory stage and the parties are now preparing to draft an agreement, it may be that the real decisions have already been made.
Since Iran is already signaling that it has refused to reduce the number of its centrifuges enriching uranium–let alone eliminate them and put an end to the nuclear threat–the choice is no longer the one Kerry spoke of after signing a weak interim agreement with Iran last November in which he said no deal was better than a “bad deal.” If the drafting of the next-stage nuclear agreement has indeed begun, then the decision facing President Obama is not between a bad deal and a good one but between a bad one and none at all. Unfortunately, every signal coming out of Vienna, as opposed to the administration spin heard in Washington, must lead to the conclusion that Obama and Kerry believe they can sell an increasingly isolationist and war-weary American public on the virtues of a bad deal in order to put the issue, if not the threat, to rest.
It should be remembered that the president sought reelection in 2012 by promising never to contain a nuclear Iran and to demand that Tehran’s entire program be halted. But in getting the Iranians to return to the table in exchange for loosening economic sanctions, the administration has been slowly backing away from those principled stands. At this point the talks seem to center on a proposed deal that would do nothing more than extend the time the Iranians would have to conduct a nuclear “breakout” and build a bomb in exchange for dismantling sanctions.
While U.S. diplomats have indicated that there are still considerable “gaps” between their position and that of Iran, there is no sign that this disagreement involves an American effort to ensure that the Islamist regime won’t have the capacity to build a bomb anytime it decides it is in its interest to do so.
Obama would like nothing better than to declare victory in the talks and then hope that the Iranians delay their breakout until after he leaves office. But by backing away from demanding an end to enrichment, the U.S. is tacitly endorsing not only Iran’s “right” to create nuclear fuel but leaving it both a stockpile of uranium and the infrastructure by which it could race to a bomb assuming that the ayatollahs even bother to sign the deal that Obama is so desperate to conclude. By leaving their centrifuges in place and by not making them surrender their stockpile of uranium, which could easily be reconverted to weapons use, Tehran’s path to a bomb is not obstructed.
As the negotiators are busy drafting their document, the administration will do its best to shroud the effort in secrecy. But this is exactly the moment when they should be putting their cards on the table. Obama and Kerry already showed that they will exchange tangible concessions on sanctions in exchange for very little in return from Iran and the likelihood is that they will get even less this time while more or less dismantling the economic pressure that created an opportunity for stopping the nuclear threat. With the focus shifting to sanctions on Russia, European support for holding Iran’s feet to the fire is rapidly evaporating.
Once the agreement is drafted, the president will, as he did last November, present the public with a fait accompli and brand anyone who points out the gap between his promises and what the deal delivers as warmongers. If the West is signing away what could be the last chance to prevent a nuclear Iran, then Congress and the American people deserve to know about it before it is already a done deal.
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3)Benghazi...............A MUST WATCH......
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Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) turned the tables on the media and asked them questions about Benghazi. The silence was deafening.The Media should be embarrassed by Congressman Trey Gowdy’s questions. Many Questions - No Answers Good questions, all!This is most certainly the most embarrassing event that has occurred in the last 16 months. The burden falls on the media who have not done anything to investigate this.If I were to measure BIG events the media touted in the last 40 years, I would rank this above the Nixon Watergate Scandal!!!So - why has this gone for over a year without a peep from the media??? You tell me!!! Have you seen this video yet? It's amazing!!!!!!
4) The Islamist Canaries in the Bruneian Mine Shaft
by Avi Jorisch
Located on the northern coast of the Island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, Brunei is the world's fifth wealthiest country among those with per capita annual income over $48,000. It will also become the 14th country or region to fully implement Sharia, a system of moral and religious laws that addresses not only criminal and civil affairs, but also politics, economic transactions and all matters of personal conduct. Because so few Muslim countries have adopted all aspects of the code — including capital punishment, flogging, amputation and stoning — in their criminal justice system, Brunei serves as useful prism for understanding the issue.
Casual observers of the Muslim world may be surprised to learn that the all-encompassing concept of Sharia is one of the primary keys to understanding that world, and indeed, the context of the September 11 attacks on the United States. Those seeking to understand radical Islamic Sunni movements, and al-Qaeda in particular, would benefit from reading bin Laden's 2002 letter to America, which explains his rationale for the attacks.
Students at religious institutions throughout the Muslim world, from Cairo's al-Azhar University, the preeminent school of Sunni Islamic scholarship, to madrasas in Pakistan, are taught the importance of integrating Allah's heavenly laws into earthly forms of government. In the 1970s and '80s, Islamist organizations around the world tried unsuccessfully to implement Sharia in their home countries and largely failed. Countries including Egypt and Algeria consistently jailed and killed those who championed Islamic republics. Bin Laden himself was forced to flee to Sudan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which had implemented Sharia and shared his worldview. He and his fellow jihadis eventually concluded that their failure to bring Islamic law to their home countries was a direct result of U.S. policy, which largely supported non-Islamist autocrats, dictators and kings. September 11 was an attempt to curtail this U.S. support so that Islamists could fill the void and implement Sharia.
Beginning in 2001, al-Qaeda and its affiliates attacked Washington, New York, Madrid and London in an effort to influence the 33 Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states that have partially implemented Islamic law, and the 30 others where Sharia plays no role. Their audacious goal was to foster the creation of as many Islamic republics as possible. Battles now being waged in Gaza, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Yemen and Bahrain are all part of the war to implement Sharia in Muslim countries.
Ultimately, Brunei is a canary in the mineshaft of the international system and should serve to alert policymakers of the need to address the threat of radical Islam. Some will be quick to point out — erroneously — that with over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, this threat cannot be handled in a politically correct manner. But if only 1 percent of Muslims espouse radical Islam — and some estimates are higher — the international community is unwise to play the ostrich with its head in the sand.
Because they fear being politically incorrect, policymakers have chosen to call this struggle a war against terrorism. Not only is this inaccurate, but it also distracts from the real problem.
Wars are fought against ideologies and countries, not against tactics. In World War II, the Allies did not fight against U-boats or kamikazes, but against Germany, Italy and Japan and their Nazi and fascist ideologies. The Cold War that followed was fought against the Soviet Union and communism.
Those who profess support for human rights, freedom of speech and religion and equal rights for homosexuals and women should pay special attention to countries that institute Sharia, since by definition they oppose all the freedoms enjoyed in liberal democracies. International organizations across the political spectrum have addressed these issues for all to see.
For example, the UN Arab Human Development Report of 2002, drafted by leading Arab scholars, was at the forefront of efforts to document the lack of basic freedoms in Islamicist cultures shortly after the September 11 attacks. Amnesty International recently reported that Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq (all regimes that have implemented Sharia) lead the world in documented executions. Gay rights groups have repeatedly deplored the statement by former Iranian president Ahmadinejad that there are no gays in Iran.
A close look at today's wealthiest Islamic republics — Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan — demonstrates why we must take the problem of radical Islam seriously. These three regimes account for the vast majority of funding, ideological support and protection for terrorist organizations and jihadis around the globe.
The West defeated each of the 20th century's hostile ideologies using the full panoply of military, economic, diplomatic and ideological weapons. Today's great challenge—radical Islam—deserves no less serious a treatment. Brunei's recent tilt toward Islamism is a timely reminder that this contest is far from over.
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