The world as we know it is a surprisingly adversarial partner. From an American point of view, Asia looks like the world’s most peaceful continent. And it still is, at least for now.

But when The US VP steps in the middle, the situation may erupt. Vice President Joe Biden has traveled to Asia and has walked into a sensitive diplomatic crisis.

It may appear to be a dull dispute over uninhabited Pacific islands known by different names depending on the country, but there is plenty of bad blood in them there hills. These countries have been at odds for 75 years that involves war, brutality, rape and historical baggage that now threatens to involve US.

China recently declared a no fly an air-defense zone over the disputed islands. These rocky islands are 200 miles southeast of China’s coast and also close to Taiwan, which has also expressed interest. The reason for the focus is not only a long history of bad blood between China and Japan, but there appears to be plenty of oil down there to claim. Perhaps enough oil to fuel China for the next half century.

This is what I had to deal with on Cyber Monday. I sang the blues for a while in the morning.

Early today on Cyber Monday I watched my Web site go gone down once again for a second time is as many weeks for a short bit of time.

I contacted my host, Amazon and they spent 20 minutes apologizing...

"I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble with your webpage. That's definitely not what we want our customers to experience.

No one enjoys having to go to work during the holidays. Luckily for many politicians, including the U.S. House of Representatives, they don't have that much work before the new year begins. Not that they have done so much this year that they deserve a break.

US House members are only scheduled to work eight days between now and January 7, when the entire membership returns for more of the same in the second session of the 113th Congress. Even the infamous “Do Nothing Congress” of 1948 did more than these lazy legislators.

An endless number of men, women and children have already perished. These refugees are forgotten victims of fatal ocean accidents, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

This Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly.

The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.