Happy Thanksgiving From POLITICS 24/7

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

-Frederick Koenig

Be sure to click here to read “She Set The Table For Thanksgiving“  a reflection of what our thanks is really for

She Set The Thanksgiving Table

    She was an older woman. Her face was etched with a history of struggles and her heart strengthened by a faith in a force that was the backbone of her survival. She was a bright lady, industrious and ingenious. Determined and strong willed, her fury could be unlike the scorn of no other, but compassion and fairness ruled her every action.

She was married to truth and loyal to justice. Her family was an unruly bunch and a large one too. It consisted of those born of her and those adopted into her arms. But all were embraced with equal amounts of love.

Each morning, she woke, without ever actually having fully slept, and prepared to fuel all those in her home with the energy to face the day ahead. Wheat from her heartlands was risen in dough. Corn from the fields she tilled flavored the muffins in wicker baskets made with her own hands, and the bacon cured and eggs laid on her farms, sizzled in the cast iron griddles milled from the iron mined out of her mountains.

When breakfast was done, the work had just begun. Every member of her family had to go out on their own. One by one, as each left, she reminded them of their bounty and of the future that could be theirs if they made the new day they embarked upon, more productive than the last.

Each of her loved ones did something different. They worked in auto factories, others in shipyards. Some worked as lawyers, others as teachers. Some kept financial records, tended bars, stocked supermarket shelves, sang beautiful songs and played magnificent music, prepared luscious meals, made haute couture, wrote for newspapers, provided protection and some cured the ill. What each one did, did not matter to her so much as did their doing it well. For sure, she knew that each one was as valuable as the other. She knew that without each one doing their part, her household would suffer. And suffering was not in her plan.

She herself had suffered many tough times. She had been faced with financial ruin, been battered and forced to face many violent confrontations. She had been stolen from, taken advantage of, beaten upon and endured mental anguish as she struggled with harsh decisions and extradoridnary moral and ethical questions.   Her life was never easy and the assaults of time on her very being, often showed.   Many adored her and looked up to her. Some were jealous of her, others were leery of her and a few often challenged her. But each challenge dropped in her lap and each hurdle crossed, made each of her many successes, all the more grand and incredibly more exhilarating.   She took to the skies, crossed the seas, scaled over, through and under mountains, created artificial light and virtual reality, wrote enduringly prophetic pieces of literature, invented life saving practices and products, bridged islands and worlds and even gave birth to freedom, the force that she would eventually come to realize was the key to her being.

But she never basked too long in any glory.

Instead, she always looked forward and prepared herself for the next challenge ahead. The changing weather, the shifting earth, the roiling seas, the changing opinions and needs of her own family, and the influences of her neighbors, never allowed for a static day. And besides, she was too wise to ever sit on her laurels. The future offered too much promise to ever allow her to just be happy with what was, and too many counted on her own promise to make the most of what will be.

So she trudged ahead with the start of every new day. She knew that as tough as things may be, her freedoms enabled her, and all those in her family, to do their part so that each next challenge could be and would be overcome.  By doing her part and insuring her household with freedom and also responsibilities, all those in her household could become increasingly strong and they in turn would keep the roof over their heads strong.  She knew that as each member of her family did their part, in that which they were best at doing, the bounty of her existence would always be there.

Appreciative of all that bounty, as this day progressed, she prepared a meal for all to share as they came home from their missions.

She made sure that there was a place for everyone at her table, and as, one by one, they took their places, she placed atop the table a wealth of hearty riches that fed their hungry stomachs and fueled the hunger in their hearts for a better day tomorrow.

As they joined hands together as one family, they gave thanks for the wealth of the strong willed lady who provided and insured the freedom that allowed them to lead rich lives with endless opportunities.

Today Lady Liberty has set the table for a celebration of thanks for all that she has made available to us and all that she continues to offer us……..So long as, we all always, do our part.

Happy Thanksgiving America and thank you Lady Liberty. I love you.

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down. This Week’s Winners & Losers 11/16/09-11/22/09

 

Week of 11/16/09  through 11/22/09

LOSERS

Recovery.gov & Vice President Biden  

In his State of the Union address, President Obama claimed that a spending package as big as his historic stimulus package, we had to make sure we spend it right. He added “Here in Washington, we’ve all seen how quickly good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful spending,”. He then proceeded to give the job of insuring that it was spent right and that every dime was accounted for to Vice Presdinet Bonehead….I mean Biden.  The President said “I’ve asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort — because nobody messes with Joe.”  Really? If that’s true——-WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED THAN?

10 or so months since the deficit busting measure was enacted, with its main purpose being “job creation”, here we are and with the highest unemployment in over a quarter of a century and more people out work since he took office than were out of work before he took office,  3.8 million more in fact  The President insists his great stimulus package is greasing the engine that creates jobs.

NOT EXACTLY!

It would seem that it is greasing more palms than job creating cogs and thanks to Recovery.gov and Vice President Biden we have no idea of what has really been spent, who has really gotten the money and what jobs, if any have really been created. Joe’s great oversight had Recovery.org recording that a whole host of jobs were being created in one state’s fifteenth Congressional District. Problem is the state in question only has 8 Congressional Districts. In Oklahoma, a  joint effort that received six military contracts counted the same 10 jobs six times. According to Recovery.org and the Vice President, a shoe-store owner claimed he created nine jobs on an $889.60 contract. In fact, he supplied nine pairs of shoes to the Army Corps of Engineers. In Washington state, The Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency reported 205  jobs created or saved with $397,761. The money was actually used for pay raises.

There were literally hundreds of false reports such as this discovered so far——-so far!.

What this essentially means is that President Obama was full of crap when he promised the most transparent and ethical Administration ever. It means that the American people are being lied to and that the job figures coming out of the Whitehouse are wrong and not to be taken seriously. It also means that although nobody may “mess with Joe”, Joe is actually more messed up than any of us thought when we told, then Senator Obama,  that Joe Biden was a dimwitted dunce with a mouth so big he could fit both his and the President’s set of feet in it.

Recovery.Org and the man in charge of accounting for the so called stimulus money, are the biggest losers of the week. Unfortunately and more importantly, all of us are also losers because right now billions of our tax dollars are being wasted on we don’t what.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

I call him Pimp Daddy Reid and this week he is the biggest loser because he literally broke the bank on trying to get his healthcare bill over a procedural hurdle. He didn’t get the bill passed, he simply help avoid a filibuster thereby giving his government takeover of health care the chance to see another day of light.  But just to pass this simple procedural hurdle, he pimped out at least a fourth of his fellow Democrat Senators. None more than Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, the Magnolia Madame. This political prostitute held out for $100 million dollars that was artfully written into the healthcare reform bill and designated to go to her state for Medicaid subsidies.

Now she can go back to Louisianans and tell them that she got them a hundred million bucks. But what she wont tell them is that she may have cost them about 650 million with a bill, that if passed, will tax the life out of the health of her state’s people.

In the meantime, Reid conducted the entire bill drafting and deal making process behind closed doors. He never once tried to work with Republicans or let them work with him and is clearly going for the nuclear option on passage of the bill. And while all this scheming is going on, lord knows how much all his deal making is costing us. He promised $100 million to Landrieu, to sit back, shut and do what he says but how much will he be paying to the other liberal whores out that there that face a tough reelection bid in 2010? How much will Max Baucus get? What will Lieberman be offered?

This week, even though Pimp Daddy Reid won a strictly party line that prevented a filibuster, he is a loser. He promised so much pork barrel spending just to make sure that his conference agreed to debate the bill that healthcare reform is already proving to be too costly. Lord knows how much more of our money he will pimp out other Democrats for to actually get them to pass the bill.

President Obama

President Obama promised to have a health care reform bill that Americans could be confident in. He promised that the entire process creating the bill would be carried on C-Span and he promised America that his entire presidency would be the most ethical and transparent ever.

Well guess what Mr. President?  As Joe Wilson would say————YOU LIED!!!!!

The entire health care reform process was conducted behind closed doors and among Democrats only. The President’s party is preparing to go nuclear on the issue and his legislative leaders have turned the House into a brothel, chock filled with  political prostitutes.

And at the same time, President Obama has failed to even once step in and offer leadership on the issue…… Real leadership.   He has offered lip service and rhetoric but nothing more. He has not once been man enough to have his chief of staff, Rahm “Rahmbo” Emanuel, sit down and draft any aspect of this bill with the President and tell Congress, “this is something we should work with”.  In 1993, when Hillary care flopped, part of the problem was the her husband B.J. Clinton had his wife write the entire bill. Congress had nothing to do with it. In the end, they still had nothing to do with it. They simply rejected it. Now in President Obama’s case, he hasn’t written a thing. Instead he just threw this piece of raw meat on the floor of Congress and allowed for a free for all that has so far written almost 5,000 pages of healthcare legislation that pays for everything from Mary Landrieu’s reelection effort to loans to veterinarians….that’s veterinarians, not veterans.

Essentially what we have here is a mess that only promises to get messier, especially if this mess becomes law.

President Obama is truly a loser this week and I believe that this week will produce a significant dip in his poll numbers because I also believe that many other people are seeing what Politics 24/7 is seeing.

WINNERS

Pat Toomey 

The Pennsylvania conservative who still believes that the Republican Party could again someday stand for the principles that once made it great, is a winner this week. He did nothing special to earn the win, but he didn’t do anything to detract from it. In the meantime, whoever is going to oppose him has really deepened themselves into a primary that will be bloody and costly.

Liberal Democrat Congressman Joe Sestak has kicked up his campaign for the Democrat nomination while Liberal Republican turned Liberal Democrat, incumbent,  Arlen “How Many Years Have I Been Here” Specter, also dug his heels in. Specter became a Democrat because he could not beatToomey in a promised Republican primary and now it is not certain if he can win a Democrat primary. And if he doesn’t win, Joe Sestak will have exhausted a lot of his own  financial resources to remain standing for the general election.

A few weeks ago Toomey was considered the underdog in the general election, but now, as his opponents start slicing eachother up, Pat Toomey is now even in polls that have Toomey in hypothetical match ups with either Sestak or Specter. Between that and the growing dissatisfaction that voters, nationwide, have with incumbents right now, the environment is continuously becoming more and more favorable for a Toomey victory in 2010. So this week, he’s a winner

Scott Fenstermaker

Fenstermaker is the defense attorney for one of the 9/11 Five enemy combatants currently in the Guantanamo Bay prison. On Sunday, Fenstermaker came out and warned officials that they really need to reconsider having these murderers tried in a civilian court rather than in the military tribunal that they are suppose to be tried in.

After visiting with his client in Guantanamo, Fenstermaker warned that a long trial is going to create some severe national security risks due to both the testimony that will have to come out and the retaliatory acts of terror that the public trial will inspire. He also confirmed that all five will be pleading not guilty and they will use the platform given to them, to spread their anti-American messages and articulate their opinion of American foreign policy.

This is coming from the man defending one of these five terrorists. Now if the defense attorney can see this, how come the Attorney General of the United states can’t see it? The fact that Scott Fenstermakercame forward to provide this insider opinion of the dangerous situation, makes him a winner.

Ed Mangano

Who the heck is Ed Mangano? Well he just may be the next County Executive of New York’s Nassau County on Long Island. Even though Nassau County has been a fairly strong Republican county, Managano was given little chance of defeating popular incumbent Tom Souzzi. Democrats have seen their voter registrations increase and they not only took the back the county executive office but they had also taken control of the county legislature. So it was looking like Nassau County was trending towards a blue future.

However; in the November 3rd election, Republicans regained control of the county legislature and Tom Souzzi, well he was denied the opportunity to make a victory speech. Onnelection night Tommy Boy found himself with a lead that was too close to call.

Now weeks later, with 8,000 paper ballots needed to be counted, Ed Managano is leading Tom Souzzi by more than 350 votes. This is a pretty harsh blow to a man who after once winning a relatively good Republican in New York saw himself as a candidate with so much wide appeal, that he immediately decided to run for Governor. He challenged, then Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, for the Democrat nomination. Souzzi ended up with less than 29% of the vote. As it turned out, with the scandalous conduct of Spitzer that forced him out of the Governor’s office, Suozzi might have been the better choice. New Yorker’s would have had the Governor they elected and Suozzi would still have a job.

The importance of Managano’s race is not based so much on him.   It is based more on the fact that Nassau  is a crucial downstate County in statewide elections.  Without a good Republican operation and groundswell of Republican support in Nassau County that can compensate for the heavy Democrat vote that comes out of neighboring New York City, the chances for any Republican to win any statewide election are slim.   So Mangano’s come from behind signifies some important  momentum in 2010.

As it stands now, Suozzi may be out of his job and the underdog, Ed Mangano, seems to be on his way to an unanticipated election victory. There are still many ballots to be counted and Mangano could lose his lead but even if that does happen and Suozzi gets sworn in again, the fact that Mangano has gotten this far makes him a winner and a shoe in next time around. But it looks like he will not have to wait. I think he will ultimately widen his lead and be declared the winner this time around.

So long Tommy.

Senate Overcomes Filibuster of Their Government Healthcare Takeover Bill

    After House Democrats passed a 1,990 page bill that would have the government takeover health care in America, today, in an unusual Saturday session, Democrats in the US Senate have voted to place their own 2,074-page bill that would have government takeover healthcare in America.

Democrats claim that the bill is the answer to all our problems. They ignore the fact that it will raise taxes, increase a shortage of healthcare givers as well as increase the size a nd cost of government by $2.4 trillion dollars,  place bureaucratic, political appointees between people and their doctors and ultimately place all health care procedures under the control of the federal government, including the decisions you should be able to make for your own self when it comes to the care you feel you need.

The procedural vote taken tonight, overcame a big first hurdle for Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. With many Republicans prepared to call for a filibuster, the liberal led Senate needed all 60 of its Democrat Senators to overcome the process that would have allowed the opposition to  kill the bill and prevent it from coming up for a full and final vote.

In a strict party line vote, Democrats avoided a filibuster with no votes to spare.

This now means that the Senate can actually begin debate on their bill any time after their Thanksgiving recess.

There was some initial doubts about this procedural vote. Several Democrats made their apprehension over the bill known and in the end, Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu was found to be the 60^th vote that the liberal side of the aisle needed. Landrieu was among 4 skeptical Democrats who were possibly ready to vote with Republicans on the bill. But one by one Lincoln of Arkansas, Baucus of Montana and Lieberman of Connecticut made it known that they will vote to allow debate on their healthcare measure to begin. Landrieu soon followed suit.

But not until she received a legal bribe.

On page 472 of the senate healthcare reform bill, Landrieu was promised 100 million additional federal dollars to Medicaid subsidies. But only for states that qualified for it. And what were those qualification? In two pages devoted to this money, it essentially came down to qualifications that only Mary Landrieu’s state of Louisiana met. Clearly, for her vote, Harry Reid secured the sending of money to Landrieu’s Louisiana as a form of down payment for her reelection bid next year.

So as expected, Democrats got their way. Their government takeover of healthcare, lives to see another day. But one must ask, if it took $100 million to get just one Senator to knuckle under, how many more hundreds of million will Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi convert into to pork that will bribe members for the final approval of government run health care?

At this rate, we will be have spent all the money they wanted to use  for their government takeover.

This Week’s Political Winners and Losers

  

Week of 11/8/09 through 11/15/09

LOSERS

Eric Holder

Once considered one of the most prominent prosecutors in America, Eric Holder’s decision to forego a military tribunal for the five enemy combatants who have plead guilty to planning the attacks of 9/11, is an irresponsible travesty that will have a negative impact of such longevity that I believe it will become partly responsible for the defeat of President Obama in 2012. The fact that Holder has called for a civilian trial in New York City will haunt him, the President, New Yorkers and the nation for year’s to come. Jury selection alone will take months if not almost a year. Than there will be the public declarations and messages of the 9/11 Five who will love every minute they have to get their message out. This is in addition to the heightened threat that the worldwide attention the attention will provide and produce. These murdering bastards admit to their deeds, were caught on the engaging our forces on the field of battle and should be tried in the suitable environment that a military tribunal provides for. Not allowing that to happen is something that can cost the President his presidency and more importantly, many Americans their lives. Eric Holder is a loser so large that we will all end up suffering because of him.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

After Nancy Pelosi delivered on a plan for big government takeover of healthcare, Dirty Harry is on the spot. Now with Harry’s hands on healthcare he is trying to whip his members into a compromise version that will please the President and please his liberal base. Harry’s house is going to be a difficult one to keep in order. There are many on his own side of the aisle who are already saying that the bill the senate is working is already a no go. One senator who caucuses with Democrats is even threatening to join Republicans and filibuster. In the mean time, instead of offering leadership on healthcare and doing something his counterpart in the House didn’t do, Harry trudges along, behind closed doors and refuses to bring Republicans into negotiations. And what pray tell do we here is going on behind closed? We hear that Harry is inventing a new tax to pay for whatever it is that he allows a final vote on

 

President Barack H. Obama  

The President went off to Asia on another attempt to make this one world, under Barack, unrecognizable and insufferable, for all. His first stop was Japan where met up with the new Prime Minister. Then he stopped by to offer his “wass ups” to the Emperor of Japan. And what did he go and do? He bows down to Hirohito’s son——Hirohito’s son!  The gesture was disrespectful to every World War II, veteran, dead or alive, and to all those currently serving our nation as well. With no demonstration of mutual respect in the greeting from one head of state to the other, the bow sends a signal of inferiority that is just….well, …un-American. Thankfully he didn’t go to Japan and apologize for America getting in Japan’s way before they could finish their “good work”, back in the 40’s, but to go and bow to their Emperor? Come on man, act like the President of the United States, not like the President and C.E.O of Banana Republic. We all know by now just how enthralled this President is with all things foreign. He would drink a snifter full of urine if the French gave it a fancy name, but this disrespecting of America has got to stop. It wasn’t bad enough that he bowed to Saudi Kings and Princes, which the White House still denies he did, but now he has to go to Japan and bow to their Emperor, Hirohito’s heir. Does President Obama not realize that it was our opposition to royalty that founded this nation and gave birth to democracy? Does he not realize that we look down on monarchies, not bow down to them?  

WINNERS

Lou Dobbs 

The distinguished journalist and economist quit CNN, the Cable News Network. The move was a damn good one. I am not a big fan of Dobbs. Nothing personal, but he sometimes rubs me the wrong way. However; he is decent man who knows of what he speaks and speaks it well. He is a far cry better than the pseudo intellectuals running around the Communist News Network and patting themselves on the back. And after it was recently discovered that CNN was actually the lowest rated news network of them all, it became clear that Dobbs really is too good for them. I mean, it says a lot if MSNBC can be considered better than you at something. So Louie’s leaving CNN can now allow him to move on to bigger and better things. Any network would pay good money to have him. Perhaps Fox Business News would make a good home for him. But maybe his home state will have something for him. New Jersey, where Lou lives, will be targeting the seat of liberal US Senator Bob Menendez in 2012. If someone like my favored choice, John Crowley, doesn’t jump in the race, Lou Dobbs might be just the man to give Bobby Menendez a run for his money. Dobbs is a strong right leaning, independent with impressive credentials on things like the economy and he has plenty of name recognition in New Jersey. In a state where one must buy exposure for themselves in the nation’s two most expensive media markets, name ID is half the battle and he could be just what the NJGOP to finally win a senate seat in Jersey. Whatever Lou Dobbs decides to do though, breaking free from the losers at CNN makes him a big winner.

Sarah Palin

Liberals can make all the fun of Sarah Palin that they want, but while they are spewing their venom and making fun of her, she is making money and having the last laugh. Even before her book “Going Rogue” hits the shelves this Tuesday, it has already made several bestsellers lists and is number one in advanced sales on Amazon.com. “Going Rogue” is going gold and while the left is wallowing in contempt for Sarah, she is rolling in the dough. It is a sign of her popularity and further evidence that her options are still open. Whether she wants to run for the US Senate, national office or dog catcher, her future is so bright that we have to wear shades. All this promise in Palin is a big difference from the popularity that Nancy Pelosi’s book received. Her 2008 release of “Know Your Power” didn’t really spark much interest. In its first week, “Know Your Power” sold only less than 2,800 copies and even less than that each week from there on. The interest in Pelosi’s book was so nonexistent that I believe she owed her publisher money when all was said and done. In fact, Barnes & Nobels had to send Nancy a bill for garbage collection services that were needed to remove her book from their shelves. Not Sarah though. She didn’t even have to endure hours of plastic surgery, like Nancy did, just so that she would look halfway decent on her book cover. Poor Nancy. But good going Sarahcuda! “Going Rogue” makes her a winner this week.

 The 9/11 Five

 I pray to God that people as horrible as these never again be given the opportunity to be placed in a winners column. These five demonic deliverers of devastation and death were caught on the field of battle and proudly admitted to having played a role in the events of 9/11. Yet Eric Holder and the Obama Administration refuse to have these sons of bitches appropriately tried in a military tribunal. Instead they will be tried in a New York City civilian court where they will have the opportunity to deliver their message to a world wide audience provided to them by the decision of this administration. The granting of a civilian trial will allow these murderers the opportunity for the type of attention that only another major terrorist attack could afford them. Hopefully these bastards will get what is coming to them. But I also hope that those who made the decision to treat the 9/11 five like civilians, go to the same hell and face an eternity of pain and suffering similar to that of the pain and suffering that their decision may cause. Sound harsh? Well too bad! I am going to compensate for the lack of strong language that this Administration is willing to use when it comes to combating terrorism………which by the way, is word they refuse to use.  In the mean time, getting the against-all-odds opportunity to be heard in a civilian court gives these five 9/11 conspirators, just what they want and for that, unfortunately, they are winners this week.   Thank you very much much Mr. President.

The Truth Is Hard To Accept And In The Case Of Iran, Few Do.

    Some realities are so disturbing that we would rather not deal with them. This habit tends to be a political phenomenon that we often encounter and that we often pay a dear price for.

For decades our federal government has refused to face the harsh realities of deficit spending. They just can’t find it in themselves to deny their spending habits and tighten our federal belt. Unless we eventually legitimately confront the reality of runaway deficit spending and face the unpleasant facts that we can’t continue to spend what we don’t have for much longer, we will soon have a rude awakening. All because we did not want to face the facts.

World Wars I and II were realities that we did not want to have anything to do with. Woodrow Wilson spent the years 1914 through 1917 trying to not have anything to do with the war. An American population that had no desire to be a part of what was happening “over there” also wanted to stay out of it. Their fears of the possibility of Americans getting involved in World War I even drove Woodrow Wilson to, in 1914, draw up a declaration of neutrality. He even urged Americans not to take any sides. In 1916 a grateful American electorate reelected Wilson on the slogan “he kept us out of war”.

A year later, American was at war. After neutrality did not prevent Germans from killing Americans, Wilson turned around and  stated that we were going to be a part of World War I in an attempt to fight a “a war to end all wars” and to make “the world safe for democracy”.

Our need to defend ourselves and our interests were inevitable. We just didn’t want to face the truth.

As Franklin Delano Roosevelt presided over our nation, he and most Americans again did not want to be involved in the war “over there”. Our allies begged on hands on knee, but we refused to officially get involved. We did however try to covertly help our allies like Great Britain. Although we did not want to fight, we knew how important it was for our allies to not go down in defeat. So we offered minimal, under the table, support.

And then Japan attacked and killed what was up to then, the most devastating foreign attack on America ever.

A short time later, we were not just fighting in World War II, we were leading the war effort.

There is often question as to just how much history would have been altered had we put our muscle into these fights before it was too late and could no longer deny the facts.  There is also question as to just how much, our leaders and we the people, as a nation, have learned from past denials.

Today, our war weary nation wants nothing more than to put an end to conflict. Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, we want the war in Afghanistan to be over and our military involvement in Iraq to be done. The only difference there is that some want  to end when we have achieved our goal and eliminated the threats that sent us there in the first place, while others just want us out of the two countries at any cost. I happen to be a party to the former school of thought. I also happen to be of the school of  thought that, as troubling and unpleasant as some realities are, we, as a nation, can not sweep them under the rug. By doing so, we will eventually trip over what sweep there and fall.

Currently an unpleasant reality that we must confront is Iran.

Put aside for a moment their nuclear ambitions. For a moment, don’t even consider the Iranian Presidents stated desire to push Israel off in to the sea. Let us ignore for a brief second the possible threats that we don’t want to deal with. Instead let us just look at the existing threats that we are dealing with right now—–threats that we do not want to acknowledge because the truth of them happening creates “a reality so disturbing that we would rather not deal with it”.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the greatest threats and challenge to our missions being completely accomplished are insurgents. These are extremist rebels who seek to engage the democratic installed governments of the two nations in battle and ultimately overthrow them. We have long known that Iran is providing many of these insurgents. Not only are they providing the actual rebels, they are also supplying them with explosives and other military hardware.

This is a point made quite obvious in a recent article in AsiaTimes.com entitled Afghans Fear Infiltration From Iran.

In it, the authors document the events in a tiny border town between Iran and Afghanistan named Islam Qala. The article details the ease in which Iranian insurgents are helping the Taliban to defeat the American born democracy behind the new Afghan government.

Take a moment to review this account of Iranian involvement. And then understand this. The ugly truth in what we must confront is the only way we can assure a success with any longevity in Afghanistan and Iraq. The truth of the disturbing realities Iran confronts us with are so undesired that I will not even bring myself to state the harsh truth of what we must do. Read the Asia Times article that I reference and link to here and draw your own conclusions. But before you do remember what Wilson and Roosevelt wanted to believe and then remember what they had to do.

President Obama Bows Down To Hirohito’s Son…….Good Going Barry!

     President Obama has begun a tour of Asia.

He is pushing for the establishment of free trade agreements, similar to those that we have elsewhere in the world. On his first leg of the trip, the President went to Japan and met with the island nation’s new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama.

After several meetings and press gatherings, the President swung by to see Japan’s Emperor Akihito.  It was really a courtesy call.  Nothing much came of the visit, nor could it have. The Japanese royal family is largely ceremonial with no official role in foreign or domestic affairs. But while he was in the neighborhood, why not do the courteous thing and stop by to say hi?

Nothing wrong with that.

But leave it to President Obama to turn it into something troubling.

Since he did not see fit to go abroad and apologize for America or make sure that terrorists know we’re willing to be friends if they just stop trying to kill us, he had to instead, bow down to the Emperor of Japan.

Now I know many of you Obama apologists will suggest it was a mere sign of respect.

That would be a convenient response but not a justifiable one. Diplomacy is both an art and a science. It is a careful dance of signals, gestures and messages combined with a rather heavy dose of traditional formality and a careful pinch of a personal touch that allows world leaders to connect on a level that is deeper than the grip and grin photo-ops afford.

All diplomatic journeys are carefully orchestrated events and many times , they are even rehearsed. For American Presidents, no where is bowing down to foreign leaders or royalty a part of that rehearsal. The symbolic importance of a formal, public bow doesn’t usually go unnoticed by Presidents. That is why they refrain from doing it. Foreign heads of states accept and understand that.

As for respect, Apparently the President does not understand that the mere fact that the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, personally traveling to Japan and acknowledged their role in the world is itself a respectful.  He seemingly also does not comprehend the additional fact that the scheduling of a visit from the leader of the most powerful nation in the world to stop by and say hello to the Japanese royal family, rather than just ignore, them, was also a show of respect.

Unlike the President and his liberal admirers, the sight of my American President, bowing to the son of Hirohito, is actually quite sad and highly disrespectful, especially to all the veterans of World War II who have given more for their country than this or many other Presidents have.

Perhaps I have more respect and reverence for the office of the presidency than some do. Maybe even more than the current President does? I understand that President Obama is no longer just some citizen of the United States. I realize that he represents all citizens of the United States. I understand that he is the leader and representative of the nation that has done more and sacrificed more for freedom than many or any combination of nation’s on the face of the earth. This understanding allows me to realize that the President of the United States does not bow down to anyone or anything other than the alter of democracy of which our nation is the King of Kings.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that the President’s bowing down to the Emperor of Japan won’t prevent the terrorists that he wants to try in a New York civilian court, from having a national stage to deliver their message from. I realize it won’t get the above 10 percent unemployment rate down any lower. His bowing wont change the price of tea in China…….at least I don’t think so?  I know that this is not a life altering incident. But the symbolic importance of his almost knee jerk reaction to bowing down to foreign leaders every time he jets out of the country is becoming embarrassing and the symbolism in it is degrading to the American presence on the world stage. Defenders of the President will charge that symbolism is not important and that it doesn’t really matter. To them I find myself asking, if symbolism is not important than why is President Obama bowing down to Muslim royalty, Saudi princes and Japanese Emperors? A bow is merely nothing more than a symbolic gesture of respect, but it is symbolic. So if symbolism doesn’t matter, why would this President go out of his way to break normal diplomatic conduct and bow down to foreign leaders?

I will tell you this.

President Obama’s bowing problem may not be quite as bad as President George H. W. Bush was on one trip to Japan on January 8th of 1992.   During a state dinner, he took ill and started feeling faint.  He soon began to pass out and proceeded to vomit into the lap of Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.

That was pretty bad. But that was an accident.  What President Obama is doing is no accident. He goes to Europe and apologizes for America. He goes to Japan and bows to the son of the man who helped lead a World War against us.  He goes to the Middle East and tells the enemy we want to be friends with them and bows to Saudi Princes.

Personally, I’d rather have my President throw up on a few particularly troubling despots than bow down to all of them.

The President’s habit of bowing has helped me though.

As the holiday’s approach I have been wondering what in the world I could get our great leader.  Well now I got it. It’s both patriotic and practical. This year I am getting the President a diplomatic tool that will help us save face and help him act presidential. It’s a metal rod with instructions that explain to the White House Diplomatic Corps how it is to be used.   Before the President visit’s foreign dignitaries, they are to stuff the rod down the back of his his pants and duct tape his body around it, thereby making it impossible for the President to bend anything but his neck.

Even President’s could use a good stocking stuffer and this one, I hope really stuffs  it.

And to be fair, here’s actual footage of President George H.W. Bush’s little

Japanese faux pas from January 1992 and a special added reenactment of the events

 

President Obama Refuses To Properly Prosecute The War On Terror

     We must all live with the consequences of our decisions but not all of us make decisions that hundreds of millions of other people will heave to live with as well. Perhaps that is why whom we choose to elect and represent us  in government is much more important than we sometimes fully comprehend.

Case in point; who would have thought, just a couple of years ago, that Americans would elect a person who would assemble an administration that would go out of its way to provide terrorists with an international stage to spread their message from and provide other lurking terrorists with a terrific opportunity to unleash their fury when all the world is watching the eventstaking place  in a public courtroom that is merely a couple of blocks away from 9/11’s Ground Zero?

Not me.

After having wittnessed the events of 9/11 and existing  in a post 9/11 nation where it is now commonplace for police to blatantly wave M-16’s as they walk around my nation’s Capitol and my City’s streets, I would have expected our nation’s leaders to err on the side of caution and deny any act of terrorism or terrorist the chance to take a single breath of air while under under their watch.

Well how wrong was I?!

In came President Barack H. Obama and apparently out went the priortiy of national security. With President Obama,  not only does terrorism get to take a deep breath, they are exhilerated by a wind of change that practically helps terrorists to set up their next perfect attack.

Led by Attorney General Eric Holder and approved by President Obama, five murdeous, fear brokers behind the world changing, 9/11 attacks will go from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to a federal court in New York where they will be tried as civilians.

Thank you Barry! Thank you for taking these five American  enemies  who were combating the United States and caught doing so on the field of battle and not trying them as enemy combatants in a secure military tribunal. Thank you for giving them the opportunity for a “if it don’t fit, you must acquit” moment.

In fact, by giving these five enemy combatants a civilian trial, you are giving them more rights than an average American citizen. A case of this much international notoriety will undoubtedly provide these five sons of bitches with attorneys far more experienced talented and expensive than the average American could afford .  These five sand devils aren’t going to pay for their top notch defense attorneys, we, the people will and you can rest assured that they will get attorneys far better than we could ever afford with our money.

Who knows, maybe there is some funding in the latest stimulus package that the liberal regime in Washington passed.

The absolutely unfounded decision to try five of the conspirators behind the deadliest attack on American soil in our nation’s history is nothing but a reckless and irresponsible miscarriage of justice and an utter dereliction of duty on behalf of the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder, this Administration and President Obama.

Their uncalled for and inappropriate decision disallowing a military tribunal to determine the guilt or innocence of these “enemy combatants” charged with allegedly playing significant roles in the attacks of September 11^th, will lead to at best, nothing less than an unnecessary security risk. By placing them within the civilian courts, their trials will provide a new cottage industry of public reporting that will afford all five of these jihadists with a stage to preach their hate from and and a forum to possibly deliver their deadly messages to——-and all at the expense of our security.

Such a trial and circus atmosphere will be an unavoidable focal point of a world concerned with terrorisms. Such attention is what terrorists dream of. The opportunity to deal the United States another blow while all the world is glued to their screens is just what attention starved martyrs of Allah are waiting for. Add to that the desire for retribution that the trial will inspire from fellow virgin loving jihadist and now you have a situation where the administration is placing New York at unnecessary and added risk. Is that the job of a President of the United States? Is that really the goal of his Administration? Our President is suppose to eliminate threats, not increase them.

Does President Obama need to be reminded that we are at war with these people. WE ARE A NATION AT WAR! And as such, the enemy must be treated like the enemy. Yet the President will not allow five enemy combatants who have been implicated in one of the greatest terrorist attacks ever, to even be alled “terrorists”. So it should not come as a surprise that this Administration will not try these terrorists properly, in a military tribunal, where all the evidence to convict these Islamic extremists will be heard along side of any conflicting evidence which could possibly prove that all of the five or any combination of are  innocent. Instead, we will take almost a year just to seat a New York City jury to do the same thing as an appropriate wartime should do in this case.

The decision has raised concerns over this Administrations prosecution of both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the larger effort to combat terrorism throughout the globe.

Rudy Giuliani, was the Mayor of New York City when it became Ground Zero. The man took New York City from an economically depressed, emotionally distressed, crime ridden city of rubble and turned it into the nation’s safest large city and produced for it a thriving economy and bright future. In the days and months after the City was attacked, he led it and its people through its darkest hours in history. He knows New York, he loves New York, and in many ways is New York. Of the decision to treat the five terrorists like civilians the former Mayor and one time, highly successful federal prosecutor stated “

“Returning some of the Guantanamo detainees to New York City for trial, specifically Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, has now brought us full circle — we have regressed to a pre-9/11 mentality with respect to Islamic extremist terrorism. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed should be treated like the war criminal he is and tried in a military court. He is not just another murderer, or even a mass murderer. He murdered as part of a declared war against us — America.

This is the same mistake we made with the 1993 terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center. We treated them like domestic criminals, when in fact they were terrorists. In the dangerous world we live in today, a nation unable to identify and properly define its enemies is a nation in danger.”

The Mayor is correct. But unfortunately, he is not the one making the decisions here. He is not the one deciding something that hundreds of millions Americans have to live with and suffer the consequences of. President Obama is. And God help us if this soft handed prosecution of crime and irresponsible decision of his leads to a single death, no less than the death of any number of the countless New Yorkers whose lives he is putting at risk. No matter what happens here, President Obama is being recklessly irresponsible. If any lives are taken because of his desire to hold an unnecessary, protracted public circus in civilian courts, just blocks away from where New York was brought to its knees, than he and only he, will be responsible for them. Totally responsible. And even if the public spectacle he is about to unleash produces no violence at all, President Obama will still be at blame——blame for taking a chance with the lives of Americans, all for the sake of five enemy combatants who helped kill 3,000 Americans

Thank you Mr. President but if you want to gamble anything away, go to Las Vegas and gamble away the profits from your books, but don’t sit in the security of the Oval Office and gamble away the lives of American civilians. That is not presidential. It is practically impeachable.

“Honey, You Remember Dada?

   “I missed you so much.  I’m sorry I went away“

Those are the words spoken by this soldier on his return home from the war.  Who is the one he speaks those words to?  It is to the one who rushes to his side before anyone else can get to him.

See for yourself and if you still don’t undersatnd why they are man’s best friend….than you never will.

President Obama Moves Towards A Final Decision Concerning Afghanistan

   If the reports coming out of Associated Press are accurate, President Obama may be prepared to take some measures in Afghanistan which would do us quite well. But those measures will not help us in either the short or the long-term if they are half measures.

AP reported the following on Wednesday evening:

“President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday”.

That news is said to be based upon a “cable” from the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry to the President. The information leaked from that private missive apparently has Eikenberry, a retired General who has served a Command of his own in Afghanistan, pessimistic about the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and their ability to effectively control embattled nation.

The White House is said to be considering three different options not presented to him by his national security council or the any of those charged with prosecoting the war on the ground in Afghanistan.  Each of his own created options will send additional troops to one extent or another but for varying purposes and on a timeline far different from the ones that many feel is appropriate.

One said plan would have a troop surge used to deal with Taliban forces that have recently gotten the upper hand in several regions of the country. Some of these additional forces will be used to hold some areas and buy some time for the Afghani army to reach appropriate strength and capability levels. The remaining troops would simultaneously be used for training the Afghan army.

This is a plan that I support. It is the plan that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice argued for, with the previous administration, for a year before they finally accepted it. Once the Administration did adopt that plan, a troop surge was approved and the plan worked. From that point on, the war in Iraq began to turn around for the United States. The plan was called “clear, hold, build”.

Clear, hold and build was first successfully used by Col. H.R. McMaster in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar. The strategy called for door to door operations that would successfully clear insurgents from the city. Once that was achieved, significant numbers of forces were left behind to hold the city. This allowed residents feel secure and prevented the enemy from simply coming back to the city after we left. With the city now cleared of the enemy and held secure from the enemy, U.S. and Iraqi troops began to build the stable starts of an infrastructure. Wherever this strategy was conducted, it worked. The resurgents were gone and our continued presence, prevented them from returning. As a result, citizens no longer lived in fear and life began to flow unimpeded by terror and violence. To carry out clear, hold and build, more troops and more time were required of us.

This same strategy, or an extremely close version of it, will work in Afghanistan. But it has no chance of working if we expect it to be completed overnight. To carry out such a plan in Afghanistan as a short-term exit strategy will be a half measure and result in a defeat of the purpose of the nine years we have already invested in the Afghani War on Terror.

According to reports, President Obama is simply looking at a way to surrender and leave Afghanistan to whatever fate its ill-equipped government will suffer.

The circumstances we face in Afghanistan are uniquely troubling and to overcoming that which makes it all so troubling will not be accomplished by a quick exit anytime soon.

In addition to waging an effective battle against the Taliban, we have to do whatever is possible to establish a secure, responsible, legitimate government in Afghanistan. If we are not committed to make sure that was is eventually created, than I say pull out right now, because if we are not willing to that, than we are not taking our own plight in the region seriously. But believing for a moment that we are serious about victory in Afghanistan, the most dramatic difficulty that we face in establishing that necessary stable and secure government is the fact that nine out of ten Afghan soldiers do not know how to read. This creates a significant roadblock to any quick training of troops to take our place if we leave anytime soon.

Proper training will be crucial in establishing a stable Afghani government that can takeover our current efforts and continue to render the Taliban ineffective. Under the circumstances, such effective training will take a great deal of time.

I understand that President Obama wants to be able to claim that he ended the war in Afghanistan. He wants to live up to that Nobel Peace Prize that he accepted and received prematurely before he had a chance to do anything. But would it not be a greater accomplishment for him and our nation to b e able to say that he ended the war successfully? For that to be achieved and acknowledged, President Obama can not take any half measures.

If reports are true, Ambassador Eikenberry sees no hope for us in Afghanistan.

Eikenberry wields a great deal of influence over the President in this matter. I only prayer that his defeatism will not be adopted by President Obama, and that the President will continue to wage what he calls a “war of necessity”, to its victorious conclusion. And just to be clear here, victory in Afghanistan is defined by the eventual creation of a government that can do what we are doing——destroy the Taliban and offer the Afghani people a bright future. Anything short of that will leave Afghanistan to again become the breeding and training ground for more 9/11’s to be launched from.

Mr. President, don’t allow that to happen. The future and security of your fellow Americans is far more important than any medal that a bunch of Scandinavians want to hang around your neck.