Stay The Hell Out Of Syria.



Stay The Hell Out Of Syria.  I have always said that when times are good, we get by just fine with poor and/or weak leaders; this country is strong enough to heal itself.  However, when times are tough, we need the type of leaders that can inspire, motivate, and make decisions; President Obama is not that type of leader.

Over the last few decades, through Republican and Democrat presidents, we have squandered the blood of our youth on Middle East causes that were sold to us as worthy and noble.    For one who has never fought in uniform or lost children to that cause, it may be cheap for me to make this call…but ENOUGH!  Stop the madness.  If America thinks a particular faction is the right one to rule a nation, then give them money, give them weapons, give them political cover, but do not give them our future.  The USA is not the epicenter of the globe any longer and we are certainly not in charge of policing for hall passes.

Our President has clearly demonstrated his incompetence to serve in the office to which he was elected; do we really want that proof to be extended to war time?  His penchant for using domestic affairs as grist for a term paper and foreign affairs as a means for apology will not serve us well if things in Syria do not go as planned…and they will not.  Is the use of chemical weapons despicable and immoral?  Yes, of course it is.  So is severing limbs from a living body with a musket ball.  So is the use of an IED to maim and destroy the human body.  So are the rape, torture, and slow death of invading hordes filled with ethnic hate and venom.  Whether it is waged with ball bats or chemical weapons, war is hell.  To attempt to quantify the degree of hell by examining the type of weapons used for the resultant destruction could easily be viewed as idiotic.

There are things in this world that America cannot control.  There are opportunities for America to influence foreign affairs in a manner that is calculated to work out in our best interest.  When our leaders choose not to influence or to influence in a counter-productive fashion, the final card in our hand should not be to bludgeon, burn, preach, bloviate, and leave our lifeblood on foreign soil. 

What Should Come First?



What Should Come First?  One of the big problems I have with the ongoing immigration reform debate is the same problem I have with our first black president; it is the context which some people place the argument within.

For immigration reform to be meaningful and productive, it must begin with the premise that we are Americans first.  For Obama’s performance evaluation to be fair, he must be considered President first.  We all have a heritage to which we can honorably pay homage, be it German, Mexican, African, or Irish.  The only group I will give a legitimate pass to on this one to is the Native Americans and that is an entirely different post. 

To me, the entire point of immigration is changing one’s country of residence because you more accurately agree with what the new country stands for; the principles that underlie its operation.  If that be the case, then the proper priority of allegiance is to those principles and not to your place of birth.  It is right and proper to take pride and to celebrate where we each came from; how our families and their friends formed and the unique trials that we each survived is part of  the glue that bonds us together in a special way.  To change one’s residence from one country to another and then work to make that country more like the one we left is a contradiction in terms.  Immigrants should embrace their new country, while working within its existing framework to make it better for all its occupants.  Respect and honor your heritage, but be an American first.

Likewise for our President, it is truly significant that he is our first president of color.  While obviously not solving all of the racial issues that continue to simmer in this country, it tears down another wall of precedent and clearly demonstrates progress in a tangible way towards a nation of equality for all.  Many times, when we examine his words and his actions, we might think that President Obama thinks of himself primarily as our first black president.  It is hard to argue with the fact that racial relations in this nation have not improved under his watch and a portion of that must be attributed to his leadership and the attitudes he fosters.  Not only has his operation model driven a wedge between the two national parties and helped lead us into a bitter and partisan environment, but his actions and comments regarding race have also led to a further polarization between the extremes on both sides of the issue.  Be our President first; be our first black president secondly.

The Best Solution Is Mutual Surrender.

The Best Solution Is Mutual Surrender.  The Frankenstein monster that is Obamacare is dominating the WDC headlines these days.  The President spent the time allocated to him over the weekend to pump up the program and to demonize Republicans for their opposition to it.  The Republicans, or at least a few of them, are advocating shutting down the government appropriations process in order to disable it.  Whatever you might think about the intent of Obamacare, any objective person must admit that is the worst kind of legislation; poorly thought out, lightly discussed, and passed by extraordinary measures.  So…what is to be done with this bad idea that has become reality?

First up, the Democrats and Obama must admit that the legislation (not necessarily the intent) is terribly flawed and is in need of some type of fix.  Selective delay by executive action is not the type of fix I am referring to.  The Republicans must face up to the fact that regardless of how it was accomplished, the legislation has passed muster and is now law.  The Democrats dare not acknowledge the shortcomings of the law for fear of losing the holy grail of “universal health insurance for all”; deemed by Obama to be a fundamental right.  The President himself, in spite of taking unilateral action (legal, illegal, semi-legal?) to delay the implementation of selected portions, continues to hold it forth as a panacea for all of America’s health concerns.  The Democrats in Congress bow up and refuse to recognize any effort, no matter how incremental and how sincere, to rectify some of the problems with the law.  It is time for the Democrats to declare victory and set about the business of ruling the newly conquered lands.  You got your law passed; now set about the business of making it workable.

The Republicans have to wake up from denial and admit that despite their best efforts, the legislation has become law.  They do not have sufficient control in Congress to revoke the legislation and that is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future.  This particular battle is over and re-fighting it only sucks up valuable time and resource.  Shutting down the government in the name of Obamacare opposition is stupid; it is as bad an idea as the legislation itself.  The Republicans have one of two choices.  First, come up with a bill that will address the portions of the law that are unworkable and yet still retain the portions that merit universal (bipartisan) support.  This must be a reasonable piece of legislation that a moderate democrat could find palatable; not some idealistic document that seeks to overturn the fundamental purpose of Obamacare through the process of revision.  Or second, take an incremental approach similar to what the House has embarked upon and try to address the weaker parts of the law.  In order for this to be successful however, the scope of those changes should be released prior to commencing the actual process and it must clearly be labeled revision and not revocation.

Both the Democrats and the Republicans need to have a “Come to Jesus” moment; they both need to admit to something.  The Democrats need to admit they have a problem child on their hands.  The Republicans need to admit that they got whipped in the last big fight and start dealing with the reality of the present.  It is symptomatic of our current dysfunctional government that a law that can find universal support for a large portion of its content is put at peril over the more controversial (and smaller percentage) of its content.  Neither party appears to be interested in what good can come of this debacle; they are only interested in the total defeat of the other.



Looking For A Break In The Clouds.



Looking For A Break In The Clouds.  Last November’s election results marked a lifetime low point for the confidence I place in our institutions of government and the American electorate in general.  Had I been prone to compulsive alcohol consumption, I would right about now be (hopefully) graduating from my AA class.  I was not thus prone and only had to deal with deep depression.  However, I have slowly crept back into the daily news cycle, once again track professional assessments of the next election cycle, and try to track the “flavor du jour” of our Congress and Administration in WDC.  I cling to the notion that our nation is of such novel design that the idiocy of any particular President and the commensurate “Fools on the Hill” is incapable of doing irreparable damage and we will bounce back after a long, dark night.  So…being tired of hearing myself bitch, whine, and complain about all things in general; it is time to say some positive things for the record.

It is indeed a glorious country that permits the type of verbal and written abuse that our last two presidents have endured.  The privilege of voicing one’s opinion, regardless of how adverse to the ruling authority it may be or how plainly stupid it may be, is indeed a luxury not held by all across this planet.

Hope springs eternal, and so do elections.  If you are like me and find it increasingly difficult to tolerate our current President, you can take solace in the fact that he only has 3.5 more years to continue his grand experiment in auto-pilot government.  Likewise, we can replace our Representatives and Senators on a regular basis and, perhaps not yet up to the optimum extent, have learned how to do it on fairly regular basis over the last few years.

Despite the ongoing discussions to the contrary, you can pick up a paper in most any American town and find some “help wanted” ads.  You can apply yourself and given any kind of a fair shake, create an opportunity for you and yours to have a better life and a decent future.  If you sacrifice and pay your dues, you can even look forward to a retirement period in life where you can perhaps pursue things you didn’t have time for earlier.  Yes…compound interest and social security still provide reasonable ingredients for good times in our later years.

This is a most beautiful and blessed country and most of us don’t even have to leave our own states to travel good roads and see sights that make us catch our breath.  The good people who wrote all those songs about the beauty of America didn’t make that stuff up. 

Any day of the week, we can gather with friends and neighbors to worship as we see fit.  It is true that religious persecution refuses to die entirely and occasionally rears its ugly head in heinous fashion; but if your faith is strong, you can practice it in America.

The wars… the senseless, stupid, exercises in political adventurism that waste the precious blood of our youth…we fight are still wars on other shores.  Yes, terrorism has crept into our culture and our society; but we do not live in constant threat of daily rocket attacks or IEDs on the way to the grocery.  People still want to immigrate to THIS country and most of those that leave, or threaten such actions, end up returning or not leaving at all.

And finally…even though we argue constantly about how much of our earnings should be ours and how much should go to the government;   even though we heatedly contemplate how much privacy we will give up for increased security; even though we are troubled by the direction of our children’s education and their ethical and moral direction…our youth offer us all a wonderful chance for a better world.  The promise and innocence of every child holds a limitless potential for better things in life.  If you can’t see that…well, you just need to look a little bit harder.  Are the children failing us or are we failing the children?

If It Ain't There, Create Your Own Good News.



If It Ain’t There, Create Your Own Good News.  I have to chuckle at the liberal media chorus lately about how much danger Senate Minority Leader McConnell is in.  How soon we forget and how malleable we are.

Flashback to 2008 with me…..In November, polls were showing McConnell and his opponent Lunsford in a virtual tie.  Obama was not very popular in Kentucky at that time, but certainly more so than he was in 2012.  “Hope and Change” was still a dream at that time and had not yet been smashed and exposed upon the rocks of reality.  The Democratic universe was atwitter with the prospect of unseating the Senate’s top Republican and the table was being set for the victory celebration.  Election Day results: McConnell 52.97%, Lunsford 47.03%.    Hello reality.

Now comes young Ms. Grimes, 34 years old, incumbent Secretary of State, daughter to Democratic political operative, and full of enthusiasm and vigor.  Once again the talk is all about McConnell going down in defeat.  Yesterday’s rowdy day at Fancy Farm, Kentucky is being spun as a great beginning to Ms. Grimes campaign and the “Beat Mitch” kool-aid is being consumed in gallons.  Once again, the polls are showing a virtual dead heat in the race.  McConnell will have a primary opponent (Tea Party?) and Ms. Grimes will not. 

I don’t know who has been whispering in Ms. Grimes’ ear and what they have been saying, but I cannot believe she is adequately prepared for the war she is about to engage in.  There is no politician in America who has endured tougher campaigns that Mitch McConnell.  He will rise to the inspiring rhetorical heights or he will wallow in the squalor of the sewer; he fights to win and is not hesitant to do what it takes.  He has been tested and has taken the best the Democrats have had to offer.  Does any reasonable person think that he will be more vulnerable in 2014 than he was in 2008?  Would Hillary at the top of the ticket really help him in Kentucky?

When you do your projections on whether or not the Republicans will gain control of the Senate in 2014, you can focus on a lot of key races.  One of those races you need not trifle with is Kentucky.  Love him or hate him, McConnell will win.  The Democrats had their best shot in 2008 and whiffed.

The Stench Is Spreading.



The Stench Is Spreading.  Every week seems to bring another wrinkle or two to the “phony” scandals that are plaguing the Obama administration.  It now seems quite likely that not only will this administration go down in history as one of the most incompetent, but will also be known as one of the most corrupt.  Its penchant for finding new and novel ways to abuse the authorities vested in it clearly demonstrates that this Administration shows no shame in its pursuit of its agenda.

Two recent developments can now be added to their “hall of shame”.  First, it is now being revealed to the public that CIA personnel who had intimate knowledge of exactly what happened in the Benghazi travesty are being intimidated into silence.  That intimidation is taking place in the form of polygraphs to insure no leakage of information, forced signings of non-disclosure agreements, and threats to their career tenure.  The only plausible explanation for this type of behavior by the Administration would be to do so in the course of protecting national security information.  However, if that were in fact the case, the Administration would have been up front and center long ago making such a claim; that never happened.   What is being hidden?

In an additional peek under the covers of this Administration, it is being reported that the infamous Ms. Lerner of IRS fame has now been leaking confidential information to her friends at the FEC, where she used to hang her shingle.  Of particular interest is the fact that she not only releases this information in an improper fashion, but she does so on a selective basis targeting conservative groups in the process.  I find it also very interesting (the next domino to fall?) that some of these improper targeting of conservative groups by the IRS also involved referrals to Mr. Holder and his crack team at DOJ.  Of particular note is the fact that the effort to “deal” with some of these referred organizations by the FEC plowed through not one, not two, but three actual reports.  That is the kind of determined effort we need by the Administration to deal with our abysmal economy; not with the abuse of government authority.  This “playhouse mentality” of Obama and members of his administration should alarm every citizen of this great nation, regardless of party affiliation.  Will no democrat stand up and be counted?  At what point does the silence condemn them as co-conspirators?

Here is the really scary part of this whole deal: This Administration has another 3+ years to pull these stunts.  They have demonstrated absolute disdain for Congressional oversight, delaying and sometimes ignoring requests for information.  This disdain appears to run equally against members of their own party as well as the opposing party.  They show absolutely no shame when they are called on their escapades by the press; even considering that it happens so rarely.  In fact, one can fairly speculate that the urgency of their corruptive activities is escalating as they see their time in office diminishing.  Given the obvious intelligence and cunning of many in this Administration, coupled with their obvious lack of ethics and shame, it is truly frightening to see how filthy the executive branch of this government will be the day they leave office.