The Beat Goes On

First, I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We were able to spend time with family and that is always a joy.

I know the Vacationer in Chief had a fine holiday on the golf courses of Hawaii. I understand he kept mumbling John Boehner's name under his breathe and chuckling. You know that the country is going broke but our less than humble president still felt compelled to give him and his family a really special Christmas vacation. I understand that the flight there on Air Force One cost 1.8 million dollars alone. And, of course, when he travels wherever he stays must have security upgrades. That doesn't come cheap.

Of course we'll be going over the fiscal cliff soon. Obama wants it and he's going to make it happen. That will give him a good influx of spending money as well as an opportunity to humiliate the Republicans by castigating them in his State of the Union speech. It has always been the purpose of the State of the Union speech to give the president the chance to tell the nation the good thing that are happening in the country and a chance to examine the bad things. Now, it seems that the State of the Union speech is to be used as a club to bash those that the president sees as enemies. It also seems to be an exercise to see how many times the words "I" and "me" can be used in one speech. He can't help it, his ego makes him do it.

One more reason that it is a good thing that Obama will get all that extra money is that he is putting American troops in 35 African countries. This has been going on for some time at a much smaller scale. You probably haven't heard about because the press happened to be looking the other way when it happened and it just snuck right by them. It has always bothered me when people referred to the US as an imperialist nation because we have never been one. Could it be that Barack wants to change that. The experts say we can no longer afford to fight a war on two fronts but we are spreading our military all over Africa. Just doesn't seem right to me. 

Some people have said that Barack Obama is a socialist. He denies this. I am willing to accept his denial. But he cannot deny that he is a big government liberal. Although he believes that private capitol should own businesses, he also believes that government has the right and privilege to order and control business. Government must regulate, examine, and reorder business as it sees the needs of the country. There is a name for this philosophy. Because of the approbation entailed in this philosophy it will remain unnamed by me. Do your own research. But all in all it does not arbor well for this country's immediate future.

This is my last blog of the year. To those that come back to my blog and think my meager effort worthwhile, thank you. Your support is beyond gold to me. I wish you one and all a joyous and happy new year. But be prepared. The future will not be easy. God bless you all!!!!!

Your friend and (I hope) mentor,
Cranky  

Rope-A-Dope Again

I must review what Rope-A-Dope is, because some folks have forgotten, some never knew, and some are young enough never to have heard of it. Now everyone has heard  of Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest heavyweight boxing champions ever. He invented Rope-A-Dope. When he was up against a good opponent, he would let the opponent force him into the ropes. Then he would cover his head with his gloves and his ribs with his elbows and just bounce off the ropes as he took body punches. This is not a technique for everyone as you must be tough and strong to absorb the beating. Then, once his opponent was arm weary, he would come off the ropes and do the job he came to do. He hit like a sledge hammer and was fast as a scorpion. He would proceed to administer his own beating and win the fight.

Now, in government, sometimes things go wrong. Governing a country as large as the United States is complicated work. People make mistakes. Or as government spokespeople like to say in the passive voice, "mistakes were made". The administration takes responsibility and moves on. As Harry Truman once famously said, "the buck stops here". Often times, if the error was egregious enough, the guilty party would resign out of a sense of honor.

That is mostly true. There is one administration that never makes a mistake. Never errs in judgement. Never takes the wrong path. That, of course is the present administration. After four years in office it has always been someone else's fault. As George W. Bush was the most immediate predecessor and was so thoroughly demonized in the press, he is the preferred target. Then the administration just bounces off the ropes until people get tired of trying to find out who's at fault or another crisis appears. This administration has been blessed with an abundance of new crises allowing the old ones to pass into oblivion. 

The State Department just announced the results of their Benghazi investigation. They have found a "systemic failure" to be at fault. It was caused by "bureaucratic mismanagement". But, remarkably enough, no one was at fault. It seems to me, that if bureaucratic mismanagement is at fault, there must be a bureaucrat that mismanaged. Has the "not me" ghost from the old comic strip now joined the State Department? Or perhaps the conveniently ill and possible presidential candidate Secretary of State is just doing a "duck and cover" until the Benghazi situation is forgotten. (Within minutes after I wrote this paragraph, three State Department officials resigned under pressure. So if it's nobody's fault, why did three people quit?)

Also we have the, just released, report that Undersecretary of Defense, Michael Vickers, is the one that gave classified information to the people making the Bin Laden movie. The man released the name of a member of Seal Team Six. Just how stupid and dangerous is that. But since he is a member of the Obama team it's OK. He'll keep his job and won't even be reprimanded, never mind prosecuted. Remember how the Democrats screamed about Valarie Plame.

Against laws and the promise of openness, Lisa Jackson, head of the EPA had a secret e-mail account under another name for communications that she could not afford to have go public. While Republicans are calling for an explanation, none seems to be forthcoming.

Another good example is "Fast and Furious". After years of lies, some testimony, and page upon page of heavily redacted documentation, only a few fairly low level bureaucrats have been named as responsible. In Rope-A-Dope some lower level  employees may have to take a hit. That's the result of the body blows. But there is never a knock out punch landed. Now we find that another person, a young Mexican woman, has been killed by one of the guns sold across the border with our government's support.

So that's all you have to do to survive politically. Just bounce off the ropes, soak up the body blows, and protect the head. Above all, you must protect the head.

Just a thought: Why have common sense and common courtesy become so uncommon?

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll be back after the holiday.

Benghazi Update

Since I wrote my first article on the four Benghazi scandals, some things have happened. So I am posting this update along with the original article, as I promised I would.

Update

Eric Boswell, Assistant Secretary of State for Security, has resigned his position. Three others have been relieved of their duties and placed on leave. Two of these employees are involved in security. So far, the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is incognito or something. A tough professional football player gets a concussion and goes to the hospital. Hillary get a concussion and goes missing. Just saying.

So we have seen some progress. Not nearly enough. The pressure must be sustained. They want this to just go away. My original article follows:

Remember Benghazi

The holidays are here and everyone is busy with their preparations. The newspaper, if they report at all, are reporting the crisis of the day. The president is heading to Hawaii in a week. Most politicians have lost interest in anything that matters. There are distractions galore. But through all this, we must remember Benghazi.

The administration, every person in it, hopes that the American people will just move on and call it done. Over. Old history. We must not do that. Benghazi is a big deal. Benghazi is not just one scandal. It is four separate scandals. Every one of them deserves our close attention.

The first scandal is that Ambassador Stevens called for more security and it was denied him. That is unheard of. An ambassador is the highest ranking American in any foreign country. He is the direct representative of the President. Normally when an ambassador makes a request it is granted without question. There are only two people in government with the power to deny an ambassador. That would be the Secretary of State and the President. So who made that decision and why? Was it made on political grounds? Was it made to appease someone in the Libyan government? After all this consulate had been attacked before. Weren't there enough warning flags up? Why was the Ambassador even there? Was he sent there secretly for a meeting? Why was he sent with insufficient personal security?

The second scandal is the attack on the consulate itself. This was an attack on sovereign American soil. When the consulate came under fire they called out for help. None was forthcoming. The people calling for help were experienced military. They had a drone overhead monitoring the situation. The battle lasted over seven hours. Help was available. Even a single C-130A sent from Italy could have been there in an hour. Four honorable Americans lost their lives while serving their country. Why? Was this also a political decision? Do we now sacrifice our people for political reasons? Who was monitoring the feed from the drone? Who did they report to? We need answers. We deserve answers. Whatever was or was not done occurred in our name.

The third scandal, of course, is the pack of lies that the administration put out to cover this debacle. The stories had not even a bit of truth to them. It was not about some movie upsetting a flash mob. Any person with more than two active brain cells knew they were lies. But for weeks after, coincidentally right through the presidential debates, the administration stuck with the story. Week after week, on the Sunday talk shows and in the news papers the media allowed this story when they must have known it was a fabrication. A man in California was jailed for his part in inciting a riot that never happened. In America? Please. That is just wrong. When did our country come to this?

The fourth scandal is a little more difficult for me.  I have a tendency to accept the military as straight forward and honorable under any and all pressure. As back in Caesar's day, they would fall on their sword rather than dishonor their uniform. General Petraeus initially mouthed the party line as to the cause of the attack on Benghazi. He reiterated the obvious lies that were played to protect the administration. It is my opinion, and mine alone, that he wanted to tell the truth. Again, my opinion, he was told that if he went public, his private misfeasance would be made public. Being an honorable man who made a mistake, he did the right thing and resigned. We, as American citizens, need his testimony as to what transpired throughout this whole mess.

I am writing this piece on the evening of December 9, 2012. I plan to publish it tomorrow. I feel it is so important that I will republish this essay periodically as a reminder to those that read my blog that the administration has not answered our questions, until we finally are told the truth or have a new administration.

How to Destroy an Economy

Destroying a whole economy might sound like a daunting task. But if you plan carefully and have what has been referred to as "helpful idiots" willing and able to be complicit it can be done with a little effort and a lot of planning.

First, you must have premier sales skills. As the process progresses people may start asking questions. If they do, they must be convinced that you are extremely smart and know exactly what you are doing. Maybe even the smartest man ever. They must also be convinced that great results are forthcoming soon. It helps that you do know exactly what you are doing. The results may be entirely different from what people expect.

If you can start this project with a abysmal job market and an economy that is extremely overspent you have a big advantage in two ways. All you have to do is stymie a recovery and you are years ahead. Also you can blame your predecessor for what you inherited for a long long time. This gives you great cover as most people don't pay much attention to economic stuff anyway. It's complicated and boring. That is true. But it is also critical to our survival.

The next step is to go full Keynesian. This also gives good cover since many people remember the name from some class they took so it must be OK. So, you tell the people that the way out of this is for government to spend even more money that it doesn't have. It is like getting out of debt by using your credit card. It doesn't work but people still try it. Now the government must take a lot of that money and invest it into private businesses. If these investments are questionable and even if they are run by your friends, that is all right. The important thing is that you're spending. That's Keynesian! And if these companies should go bankrupt your friends, the bankruptcy lawyers, will clean up. As a fringe benefit, this will also make the job market worse. Don't forget you are destroying the economy.

Speaking of the jobs market, your administration must pass pages and pages of new regulations so that even companies that would like to hire will fear to lest the cost of new employees on top of those new regulations ruin their business. The great part of this is that you can do it through regulatory agencies. It doesn't have to go through congress.

Staging a government takeover of health care gives you a really good tool to manipulate things. Make the paperwork big enough and you can hide all kinds of taxes, fees, and regulations in it. Don't mention this to anyone, but it will also give you a leg up if you ever want to get into population control.

There are a couple more very effective things that can be done. You can crank up the printing presses and print lots and lots of new money. But give the process a fancy name like "Quantitative Easing". That sounds so positive and only a few people will realize that you are driving the value of the dollar down. Even if your not there to control things this will affect the economy for decades. By the way, a little factoid. We are up to QE 3.5. Goodbye dollar.

The last thing that I want to suggest is to raise taxes. I understand that people will balk at this as the jobs market is down, but tell them your only taxing rich people. I know that isn't true but enough people will believe it and they love picking on the rich. I know you're really taxing small business owners. But they deserve it as most of them didn't support your candidacy. They need to be punished.

Now make a lot of speeches and convince the public that you are the one and those that oppose you are stupid and old fashioned. They do not understand the new economy. And most of all let underlings handle negotiations. You must avoid negotiations at all cost. Dictate don't negotiate. This way if things start to get shaky you can throw an underling under the bus.

Sound familiar? It should. To quote Hemingway, "Know not for whom the bell tolls? It tolls for thee".

A Brief Thought on the Violence in Connecticut

It has been three days now since those terrible events in Connecticut. I did not want to write about this. I did not even want to think about this. I have no knowledge or expertise to add to the analysis that must come after something like this. That needs mental health professionals, people of the cloth, or those with legal training.

The first reaction by many people is to blame the guns that were used. That is understandable. But my feeling is that people that are motivated to do this level of harm will always find a way. If not a gun then a knife or a bomb or a Molotov Cocktail. There are just so many ways to create havoc.

When I was a young man it was fairly easy to put someone with mental problems in an institution. Most were dirty and cruel and abusive places. The inmates, and that is what they were, were treated worse than zoo animals were treated. Lawyers got involved and petitioned for the rights of those that were incarcerated. They were freed and many became homeless.

Times have changed. We have the ability and communal conscience to revisit what we must do for those that are alienated from society and need supervision. When an asocial personality spends every waking hour playing violent computer games where you score by how many people you kill they cannot help but be numbed to the results of acting out and uncaring over the pain of others.

In my opinion, what is needed now is not an immediate knee jerk reaction but a thoughtful analysis by those that care only for a solution. It should be a group that is large enough to contain great minds in psychology, law, religion, medicine, and ethics, but small enough to come to a consensus. No politicians, please.

None of us knows what will happen now. I don't even know that my idea will work. But it is obvious that we must try something. I would prefer to do something that controls the doers and not try to control the tools that they use. They will always find new tools.

Sadness in Our Nation

This is a day of profound sadness for everyone. My prayers are for those poor people in Connecticut and for all families with children. This affects them all. 

There will be no new blog for a few days in respect.

Random Thoughts - Fifteen

Wouldn't you love to know how many hours of flight time President Obama has put on Air Force One, compared to other presidents? I mean, when do  they have time to wash and wax it?

Benghazi update. Amazingly enough, it is now coming out that the administration knew that there was a strong Al Queda base working in Libya. We have to stay after this.

Speaking of administration scandals, what is going on with "Fast and Furious"? Is that being dropped?

Speaking of administration scandals, has anyone heard anything about Solyndra lately?

Did you hear where Jeffry Immelt, chairman of GE and chairman of the administration's Jobs Council, says communism works just fine in China? Gee, I thought that things were going pretty terrible in China under communism until they adopted some capitalism. I'm sure this is going to be good news to the survivors of Tienanmen Square and those that are forced to work in sweatshops. Those GE light bulbs that used to be made in the US are now made in China. Think there's a link there?

The President wishes to thank those who have stopped looking for work so that they are no longer counted in the unemployment figures. You are making unemployment figures go down and making the President look good.

I hope everyone is prepared to go over the "financial cliff". Because that is where we are headed at a high rate of speed. The Republican night crawler club (no spine and suitable for fish bait) think if they give Obama the keys to the kingdom they can stop it. I doubt it. If the tax rates go up across the board, Obama gets a big influx of spending money. It also gives him a chance to put the blame on those terrible intransigent Republicans. A double win. I don't think he can walk away from that.

Does anyone really believe that Obama intends to reduce spending?

Hey, it's my blog. So I can say this. How about them Patriots!!!!! My sympathy to any readers from Texas.

I know that I can get a bit cranky. I'm old and I'm a conservative, so I'm obliged to be cantankerous, but the level of incivility in American society today is jaw-dropping. All rules have been thrown away. Nasty is the new operational behavior. People, watch yourselves out there. I really mean this. Especially in the cities. Take a position of "situational  awareness". If you don't know what that means, it is to be aware at all times who is around you. Do they look threatening? Is their behavior odd? Check all around you. When you're on the street don't be lost in your cell phone or I-Pod. If you think this advice is unnecessary, ask a cop.

If the Mayans were right, civilization has only ten more days. I might as well hold off on that Christmas shopping.

Remember Benghazi

The holidays are here and everyone is busy with their preparations. The newspaper, if they report at all, are reporting the crisis of the day. The president is heading to Hawaii in a week. Most politicians have lost interest in anything that matters. There are distractions galore. But through all this, we must remember Benghazi.

The administration, every person in it, hopes that the American people will just move on and call it done. Over. Old history. We must not do that. Benghazi is a big deal. Benghazi is not just one scandal. It is four separate scandals. Every one of them deserves our close attention.

The first scandal is that Ambassador Stevens called for more security and it was denied him. That is unheard of. An ambassador is the highest ranking American in any foreign country. He is the direct representative of the President. Normally when an ambassador makes a request it is granted without question. There are only two people in government with the power to deny an ambassador. That would be the Secretary of State and the President. So who made that decision and why? Was it made on political grounds? Was it made to appease someone in the Libyan government? After all this consulate had been attacked before. Weren't there enough warning flags up? Why was the Ambassador even there? Was he sent there secretly for a meeting? Why was he sent with insufficient personal security?

The second scandal is the attack on the consulate itself. This was an attack on sovereign American soil. When the consulate came under fire they called out for help. None was forthcoming. The people calling for help were experienced military. They had a drone overhead monitoring the situation. The battle lasted over seven hours. Help was available. Even a single C-130A sent from Italy could have been there in an hour. Four honorable Americans lost their lives while serving their country. Why? Was this also a political decision? Do we now sacrifice our people for political reasons? Who was monitoring the feed from the drone? Who did they report to? We need answers. We deserve answers. Whatever was or was not done occurred in our name.

The third scandal, of course, is the pack of lies that the administration put out to cover this debacle. The stories had not even a bit of truth to them. It was not about some movie upsetting a flash mob. Any person with more than two active brain cells knew they were lies. But for weeks after, coincidentally right through the presidential debates, the administration stuck with the story. Week after week, on the Sunday talk shows and in the news papers the media allowed this story when they must have known it was a fabrication. A man in California was jailed for his part in inciting a riot that never happened. In America? Please. That is just wrong. When did our country come to this?

The fourth scandal is a little more difficult for me.  I have a tendency to accept the military as straight forward and honorable under any and all pressure. As back in Caesar's day, they would fall on their sword rather than dishonor their uniform. General Petraeus initially mouthed the party line as to the cause of the attack on Benghazi. He reiterated the obvious lies that were played to protect the administration. It is my opinion, and mine alone, that he wanted to tell the truth. Again, my opinion, he was told that if he went public, his private misfeasance would be made public. Being an honorable man who made a mistake, he did the right thing and resigned. We, as American citizens, need his testimony as to what transpired throughout this whole mess.

I am writing this piece on the evening of December 9, 2012. I plan to publish it tomorrow. I feel it is so important that I will republish this essay periodically as a reminder to those that read my blog that the administration has not answered our questions, until we finally are told the truth or have a new administration.

Aliens Welcome

The politicians haven't told you yet, but the welcome mat is out at the United States borders. An alien amnesty is coming. It is unavoidable. The American public is being sold on this very slowly. But the dirty little secret is that every politician in Washington in the back of their mind know it is inevitable. Most of them want it to happen.

Let me explain. As with everything that politicians get their grubby little fingers into, it is about money. They have messed up the national economy so badly that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are going broke. Over the years the politicians have borrowed (stolen) the money earmarked for these programs and spent it on other pet pork projects. Now we're running out. Years ago there were seven or eight people working to support each Social Security recipient. Now we are down to one or two. This, of course, is untenable.

We need more workers out there bringing money into the government coffers. At least those spending dervishes in Washington think we do, because they cannot find a program that can be cut. Correction, they do not want to find a program that can be cut. There are two ways to get more workers. The most obvious is not working as the birth rate is way down. Now if you good loyal citizens want to get out there and make the effort, in about twenty years we will increase the work force. The only other way to make new American workers is immigration. With an amnesty program there will be a huge immediate influx. The Democrats are particularly for this as these alien imports tend to vote Democrat. So now you see the handwriting on the wall.

There is one small problem. Right now we don't have enough jobs. This gives the politicians more time to seal the deal with the public. Well, there is one other small problem. With the way the administration is handling the economy things are not about to improve. Since the election there has been an increase in layoffs. This is not widely publicized in the media, but if you look, the information is out there. If the country goes over the tax cliff, and I think it will, this will get even worse. The president wants this to happen. If you look closely at the way the negotiations, if you can call them that, have been structured, it is obvious.

The policies in place now are going to take most of a generation to repair. There will also have to be some good honest statesmanship in Washington. Are there any real statesmen out there? Not too many, if any. So if they should, prematurely, offer amnesty, it will only exacerbate what is already a mountainous problem. Also, a great deal depends on what  happens in 2016. There are all ready some ripples in the water, but not enough to see any picture yet. But I'm already studying on it. Stay tuned. More to follow.

A Christmas Crisis

As I have said before, there is nothing President Obama loves so well as a crisis. If you have a shiny new crisis today you can forget about all those rusty old ones that some silly people, Republicans and other miscreants mostly, keep bringing up in conversations and at press conferences. Obama loves crises so much that he will manufacture them as needed. And he has built as beauty this time. He has built it like an onion, layer upon layer. Solve Crisis-Part A and you are faced with  Crisis-Part B and so on through all those layers.

The core of this month crisis is the, so called, Bush Tax Cuts. They are due to expire. That would give every taxpayer in the country a rate increase. Since Obama loves the middle class, he wants to preserve lower taxes for them. And since he hates evil rich folks, he wants to raise taxes on them. Actually he doesn't really care much about the middle class and he loves the rich. The rich give him tons of money to play with for campaigning and stuff. Now the fact is that taxing those making over $250,000 is not going to pull the country out of the financial black hole Obama has put us in. But if enough people believe him and not think too deeply about it, he'll get their support. And, of course, most of the main stream media supports him unquestioningly. By the way, this is the Barack Obama who said that taxes ought not to be raised in a recession. Unless he really really wants to. Then it's OK.

The next layer of the onion is to proclaim that the Republicans have no ideas. So there is no point in negotiating with them. They did produce a list of ideas that are at least worth discussion. But the president's people blew them off as not balanced enough. Whatever that means. Maybe that list could be a start toward negotiating a compromise. So the president, in search of the new ideas that excite him, is heading for the golf courses in Hawaii to see if there are any good balanced ideas to be found there. Aside from that, he needs a good trip to rest up from all those other trips.

So to prove he is constantly involved, the president left Tim Geithner behind to handle the financial negotiations with the Republicans. I must remind you that Tim is the guy that couldn't get his own income tax done right using Turbo-Tax. A fine program that I have used for years. And if I can use it successfully, anybody should be able to. Now, all of a sudden, Obama's demands have changed. He now requires double the tax income, a huge increase in deficit spending, and that congress abrogate, to him, control of the debt ceiling. That is a power given to Congress in the Constitution. It is one of the "checks and balances" designed by our founders and is not to be taken lightly. Additionally, follow this for logic. The increase in deficit spending is supposed to offset the bad effects of the tax increase. Weird logic at best. Fiscal insanity at worst.

The dirty secret is that Obama wants a fiscal blowup. He wants the economy to go over the cliff because he feels that he, being a charming and likable sort of person, can lay the blame on the Republicans and destroy them in the eyes of the public for years to come. So if Geithner and the Republicans should be able to come up with a plan, the president can reject it claiming it is not satisfactory to him for any number of reasons. Then when the unemployment rate goes above ten percent and the GNP goes negative, once again he can stand up at some podium, look down his royal nose at the audience, and claim it all would have worked out if those evil Republicans had only given me what I needed. It's all their fault. This is not about the economy. This is flat out hard ball politics. And it is exactly what the nation does not need and can't afford at this time.

GNP Call Home

Once again, dear friends, we enter the exciting world of economics. I stopped to glance at the TV the other day as one of the usual talking heads said,"people do not understand the GNP". I shrugged off that condescending claim. Those types always think they are brilliant and the rest of us are dolts. But I started thinking, what if he's right. Today's education system doesn't do economics well, if at all. So, as I enjoy writing about economics, I thought I'd try to help anyone that missed that class.

First of all there are two numbers. The GNP is the gross national product. The GDP is the gross domestic product. They are similar but with definite differences. I don't want to wander to far into the weeds here. So Google them if you really want to know the difference. I prefer the GDP, as I feel it gives a better picture of what is happening in the country. The GNP looks at the economy as a whole and is what is most commonly reported on. While either one of these numbers represent the economy the GNP is the total value of all goods and services produced in the United States plus Americans and American companies abroad minus the value of goods and services produced by foreigners and foreign companies in the US. That's a bit to wrap your brain around. You might want to give that one a second read.

The Dow, the S&P, and the NASDAQ do not represent the economy. They represent the state of certain select stocks offered for sale. Their trends show the anticipated growth or decline in value of those stocks only. A stock can show an increase in value on the Dow for instance, while, at the same time bringing down the GNP. Let me explain. Let's say a company, Cranky Cranks Inc., employs a thousand people at four locations. Their business volume is ten million dollars and they make a gross profit of thirty percent and a net of ten percent. A good well run business. So they net one million dollars. They have half a million shares of stock outstanding valued at twenty dollars a share, so they pay dividends of two dollars a share. That gives them a price to earnings ratio of ten to one. All in all, very nice.

Let's say there is a business slowdown. Their volume drops to five million dollars. They hang in for a while but their dividend goes down to seventy-five cents a share. Their P/E drops to about twenty-six. Not good. Dow looks at them and the stock price plummets. This forces management does what they have to do. First they lay off half of their work force. Five hundred people join the unemployed. Next, to reduce fixed costs, they close two buildings and reduce their R&D program.

So now they have half sized themselves. But because of the reduced costs their net goes back up as does the stock value. So the Dow goes back up, too. Since they are doing less business and generating a smaller gross their contribution to the GNP goes down. Please, you CPAs out there, I know I oversimplify.

Finally, we get to growth. The government produces GNP numbers quarterly. Over the past four years the rate of growth for the GNP has been hovering around one percent. That is a very weak economy. A growth rate that weak will not sustain a growing population. That means further unemployment and underemployment. It is important that the government create an atmosphere where business can grow and flourish. The economy is not a zero sum game. One person making it does not take away from others. In a robust economy everyone does well including the tax collector. 

All Americans need is an even playing field without the obstructions of an over-reaching, over-regulating, and over-spending government and we will do just fine. 

I Am Crankier Than Usual

Yes dear reader your Cranky Conservative is even crankier than usual. Maybe even crankier than he has ever been. First of all, I admit that I completely misread (well, maybe not completely) the election. I wasn't crazy about Romney at first. But he did well in the debates. He seemed to be getting clear of the Democrat smear campaign. It looked like his timing was perfect going into the last two weeks. I was expecting a full on attack at the end. But poor old Mitt got nervous. He was probably afraid of seeming impolite. So he just hid in the closet and whispered through the door.

But he had a great deal of help in his debacle loss. His old line advisers had him convinced he was a winner and didn't want him to make a mistake and blow it. So they took no chances,  kept a quiet tone and blew it. And, of course, you can always rely on those to the right of the political mid-stripe to ignore the good, insisting on the perfect. What on God's good green earth were you people thinking? He wasn't conservative enough? He was a Mormon? He missed a couple of gotcha questions? He was too rich? He was too successful? 

Well I have some information for you, just in case you missed the news broadcasts. You have managed by staying home to turn the country over to the most out of control liberal ideologue in the political arena today and maybe ever. And he cares not a wit about you or this country's great history. He cares about converting this country into a socialist Eden where the government controls your life, cradle to grave. 

Am I overstating my case? I dearly hope so. There are many out there that share my view. Most of us continue to fight with the one weapon we have. The printed word. We try to persuade as best we can. So much of the big media is controlled by the liberal supporters a lot of the task falls back to us little guys that reach out to a small audience. And too many times we are preaching to the choir. But if enough of us push on we may make a difference.

But now that the deed is done and the election is over I watch the news expecting those faithful Republicans who retained control of the House with the help of those that live on in the Senate to stand up and be "the country's loyal opposition". To make their voices heard and to stand like a granite boulder in the path of the liberal juggernaut. Well I seem to be in for another disappointment. Your average Republican seems to have about as much spine as a night crawler. I know what I do with night crawlers. I use them for trout bait. That is about all they're good for. That and oxygenating a compost heap.

So here we are friends. I'm cranky and with good reason. I have fought this fight in one way or another since 1960. I even ran for office myself a couple of times. I've been a campaign manager and a ward committee chairman. It sometimes gets difficult when you see people toss the hard work of others away like a used tissue. It makes me cranky.

Random Thoughts - Fourteen

The Republican should stand firm on taxes. Then let the world know Obama wouldn't deal. It won't be easy and they will get a lot coming back on them but the base will understand. A line has to be drawn. I doubt that they will, but they should.

What middle class tax cut? There is no such thing.

Obama's truth is what he wants you to believe. No more, no less. No responsibility. No apology.

Are you ready for six dollar gasoline and ten percent unemployment. The road we are on goes right through that area.

Does anybody really believe that the Democrats will cut back spending if they get their tax hike. Please. In this case past performance is an absolute guarantee of future results. Remember Lucy with the football or the scorpion on the frog's back? They are what their nature forces them to be. 

The United States, under Obama, will not deter Iran from building an atomic bomb. Israel is on their own, and they know it. Shame on us.

I am truly depressed thinking about what the next four year will bring. And what is worse, what the American people will accept. I fear the American people will discover the true definition of "buyer's remorse".

Actor Jamie Foxx referred to Barack Obama as "our lord and savior". I think insanity has become a contagious disease.

I wish I could be a little more upbeat coming into the Christmas Season. But it is difficult to be light hearted and joyous when I see so many good, hardworking people hurting. From the victims of Sandy to the victims of the job market, too many of us will have little joy this year. The government that has promised you so much to help you get back on your feet has done little but show up for photo-ops and to congratulate each other on what a great job they are doing. Sad, but there you go. Please, never rely on those that can just walk away from your problems. Trust yourselves and be strong.

When I sat down to write this piece, I didn't intend it to be such a downer. Although I clearly see the faults in the body politic, I can generally face them with a smile and confidence in the innate strength of the American people. This last election has shaken that confidence. I must wonder if we are becoming Europeanized. Dear God I hope not. 

Just Another Rock In The Pile

If you have a rock that you want to hide, where is the best place to hide it? Obviously enough, in a rock pile. This is a concept that Obama has found greatly to his liking. Bill Clinton once complained about not having a major crisis during his administration so he could look more presidential. I think he just didn't take advantage of what he had. Obama, on the other hand has had more crises than a bunch of administrations.

I booted up my word processing program the other day and started listing the crises, large and small, real and manufactured, that have occurred over the past four years. I did this from memory. No research. I admit that I do not have the best memory in the world but I still came up with twenty-eight. That is more than one crisis every two months.

Some of these were inherited, like unemployment and the bank failures. Some were grabbed onto as a political ploy, like the automotive failures and the housing bubble. Some were manufactured, like demonizing Mitt Romney, the war on women, and the war on the Catholic Church. Some were just consequential, like Sandy and the Petraeus scandal. Finally some were a result of inept management, like Benghazi, the follow up stories on Benghazi, and the kill list.

One benefit of all these crises is that the last crisis gets lost in the coverage and concern about the newest crisis. The administration can put older crises on the back burner and let them simmer. They can later claim to have solved some of them or that there is an ongoing investigation of others. Of course, the results of any investigations never become public. I wonder, is the investigation of "Fast and Furious" still ongoing. 

They claim to have fixed the automotive crisis. They poured billions of our dollars into it. They flipped the rule of law on it's back to protect the unions. Now one American car company is owned by an Italian company and the other, while being touted as a grand success, is still only borderline and still may not recover. This with billions of your money unrecovered. 

Some of the crises we live with day to day and appear to have become the new normal. Have we accepted the price of gasoline? Have we accepted that this administration is never going to make us energy independent even though we have the resources. Have we accepted good Americans being sacrificed in the middle east. Have we accepted a president digging us ever deeper into a financial hole based on what he sees as fairness. Have we, finally, given up the Republic. 

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving!

Those of us that are political/news junkies may feel like we are a little deprived this Thanks giving. But I am here to tell you that while there may be a shadow over the land and the background music may have a more mournful tone, the ongoing drama of our lives is still aimed at a happy ending.

We still live in the greatest and freest country in the world. There are, indeed,  those that would change that. But they haven't won yet. So keep fighting the good fight.

Political commercials have gone away for a while. Both our ears and our souls needed a rest from lying liars screaming lies about other lying liars. I realize that it is just a hiatus but let's be thankful and enjoy it while it last.

Our king-like lecturer in chief and master celebrity suck-up has cut back his twice daily lecture schedule designed to make us poor incompetents understand life under the new rules. In fact I have only heard it's Bush's fault once in the past two weeks. 

Even with a reluctant press the over-reaching and incompetence of our present administration is coming to the attention of the general public. It's kind of fun to hear the nice folks that voted for Obama say with a surprised expression on their faces "I didn't know that".

But, all kidding aside, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Our daughters and our grandkids all live close by so we get to enjoy the holidays with them. But I prefer the calm of Thanksgiving over the frenzy of Christmas. A great turkey dinner, some conversation, and a football game or two make for a perfect day.

I hope all of you kind people that come here to read my blog have a wonderful holiday too. And for  my readers from ,now, fifty-one other countries, I wish you the joy we feel at this time of year that is so special to us. 

And God Bless The USA.

My Crystal Ball is Cracked

I seldom write about personal things. But I think I have to now. My wife and I have four grandboys. Two in high school, one in middle school, and one in grammar school. They are all smart as can be. They do very well in school. I will be surprised if all of them don't end up with advanced degrees in college. But I honestly fear for them more than I can express. 

When they complete their education they will not be entering the world that I grew up in. The next four years, unless something changes, will alter this country in ways that we could  never have foreseen. We have always been a three class society. But the lines were blurred and people were upwardly mobile. If they got an education, worked hard, and didn't mess up, they moved up. One could literally start in the mail room and end up on the board of directors.

If my crystal ball works, in the future we will still have a three class society. But the lines will harden. The differences will become larger. Upward mobility will be rare. There are the rich and there are those with power. Those with power are seldom poor. Power is a commodity. The rich and the powerful will take control of the upper class as it was back in the nineteenth century. They will do this because there will not be enough "good" jobs to go around. Higher education at the best schools will be so expensive that it will be the ticket, once again, into the elite upper classes under the control of the rich and powerful.

Business will be so ravaged that good middle class jobs in the private sector will be limited in quantity. There will be so much competition that wages will go down. Prices always go down in a buyer's market. The sought after jobs will be the middle tier government jobs at any level available. Of course, federal is preferred. These government employees, although middle class, will be pampered because they will represent the voting bloc that will keep those controlling the country in power. One does not vote against their employer.

The poor will be in better straits than ever before. Not that the life of the poor is terribly desirable. But if you are willing to lower your standards and take what the nanny government offers, you will have a roof over your head, something to eat, a TV to watch, and plenty of time to enjoy life. Not my choice, but then, for some.........

This is the world I fear my grand kids and their kids, and maybe even their kid's kids will inherit. I fear that the next four year of insane spending, poor tax policy, terrible international relations, and weakening the military will alter America so badly that a generation or more will be needed to take us back from the abyss. As I said, my crystal ball has a crack in it. So maybe I'm reading it wrong. I do so hope that I am. But I fear that I have nailed it.

Random Thoughts Thirteen

It was my intention to write something more on Benghazi this morning. But every time I look at the TV or turn to my computer there seems to be just a few more things coming out. Now it is Benghazi/Petreaus. So I spent the last three hours putting together a cast of characters and a time line for future reference. 

But I will make a few observations. First, you could not make this stuff up. The raid and all surrounding it is a pure tragedy. There must be complete hearings. The country deserves the truth. But everything since then is pure comic opera. The country's premier General of the Army and his biographer, who is also a Military Academy graduate, have an affair while they're flying around the world at taxpayer expense. Two hot cougars, one being the mistress, get into an email cat fight. The other hot cougar gets her FBI pal involved. An FBI guy that sends her topless pictures no less. At that point it probably was not an FBI issue. But the agent was a guy, and you know how guys think when there's a hot cougar involved. And now he is in deep hot water. So, anyway, they start digging into the email thing and what do they find? They find 20 to 30 thousand pages of emails from another big deal general to hot cougar number two. Do you know how much time it takes to create that much email. The man obviously had no time to do any generaling due to time constraints caused by email creation. If you saw this in a movie the reaction would be wonderment that any one would believe that people at that level would act like that. Bizarre. 

As for the original Benghazi debacle, I have looked at that whole sequence in all of the news reports I could find. In my opinion, everyone of note that had anything to say about this whole mess has either lied or been so far out of the loop they believed the lies of others. That is the only way I can understand both the differences between what people say, what people say at different times, and the reality as observed on the ground. It has to be a cover up. That is the only thing that makes any sense. But a cover up for what? I can think of three things that they would want to cover up. One is so far out there that I won't even mention it. The least likely of the two remaining theories is that there was in fact a secret prison at the consulate and the cover up is to prevent that from coming out. Possible, but I don't buy it. My choice is that the raid was covered up so as not to interfere with the Obama re-election campaign. After all "Al Qaeda is dead". Obama destroyed them. So it couldn't have been terrorists. Except that Al Qaeda isn't destroyed and it was terrorists. But whatever the outcome, all involved must testify under oath before congress. Everyone, or the stench will remain with this administration forever.

The Obama administration is producing sixty-nine new regulations a day. That, I'm sure, will go a long way toward helping businesses come back from the recession. I was afraid of four more years of the same. Now I fear four more years of worse. I think we'll be looking back on the good old days of only  eight per cent unemployment.

Conservatives, stop buying print newspapers or magazines. The media has supported our opposition, why should we support them. Get your news on line and you will be better informed. The loss of our business will hurt them as they have hurt our country. Time for payback. 

Pols Need to get a GRIP.

OK, sorry I shouted. But I am angry and frustrated. I really wanted to write on Benghazi. Lord knows it's a mess and getting worse. But I have time for that. As I have some background in economics, I do enjoy writing on that subject since most people, even those that  should, don't know their butt from page eight about it. I have also spent a great deal of my life in sales. Which means I have acquired some negotiation skills.

Enough about me. Let's talk about Barack Obama and John Boehner. It seems to me that what both of them call negotiation is "my way or the highway". Bad tactic. Even if you are the President of the United States, in all your self aggrandizement. Mr. President, you may think that you are the power player here. I am sure that those around you feed right into that image. And Mr. Speaker, I'm sure you feel since you were able to keep the House, that you are the one with the mandate. You are both wrong!

What the two of you do in the next forty-five days will determine the complexion of the country for the next generation. I have some suggestions which, if you will stoop to listen, may help. First, both of you ease up and actually listen to the other side. We are all Americans and will have to live with your results.

Mr. President, you do not have a mandate to raise taxes, but I understand why you feel that you do. Take your lower limit back from two hundred thousand to a million, a million five would be even better, and raise the rate one percent. Listen to the Republican plan to close loopholes. Cut spending. Mr. president, spending is out of control. This needs to be done. It is more important and more helpful than  a tax increase. Pass a bill for at least one year, two would be better.

Mr. Speaker, you must accept some tax increases. Wounds must be healed. Negotiations must be entered honestly. You have power, Mr. Speaker. But the power that you have is to destroy the Republic. Make it work. The burden is on you more than it is on the President. Fail and your name will be Anathema.

After the two of you get this done pull "Simpson-Bowles" out of the drawer and get some serious budget controls in place for the long term.

Mr. President, your ideas about regulating energy and business are stultifying the economy. That is all on you. Continue down this road and the burden of a destroyed economy will be your history.

I see young people getting an education with the hope of a bright future. The power plays of politicians seem to do more harm than good in spite of their grandiose speeches. How about doing what is right for the future and right for the country for a change.

 I would like those of you that think my blog is worth your while to pass the link along to others that may enjoy it. Although I gain nothing by an increase in readership it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when I feel I am being successful in my modest efforts.  Thank you all.

The Necessaries are Necessary.

As Obama starts into his second first term, there are some things that are necessary for him to do if he does not want to be remembered as the most failed president ever. The first thing necessary is for him to fold up that huge ego of his and stuff it in his back pocket. He should leave it there until he gets out of office. He has not lived up to his own self image regardless of what his mirror tells him every morning. Mirrors lie.

The second necessary item on the list is to actually reach out to the Republicans. When first elected, Obama said, "I am the president for all Americans". He then governed or ruled if you wish, from the far left. He explained to the Republicans, "I won". From that point there was no place for the Republicans at the table. For any kind of success, that must change.

Necessary item number three is to stop blaming other people for every bad thing that happens. In particular, stop blaming George W. Bush. The problems at the end of his administration had two root causes. The first, and most ignored, is that for the last two years of the Bush presidency the Democrats controlled Congress. It was they that indulged in a wild spending spree. The second cause was that Bush could not find his veto stamp. That is where he is culpable. He allowed the rash of spending and never said, enough.

My next item of necessaries is for the president to get some control over Harry Reid. His pugnacious, "my way or the highway" attitude does not make for co-operation. He may control the Senate but the country has a right to see both side's ideas discussed in a reasonable forum. The United States Senate was once called "world's greatest  legislative body". Under Mr. Reid no one would repeat that reference.

The next necessary is to encourage the replacement of Nancy Pelosi as minority leader in the House. Some of her bon mots are less than helpful and she doesn't play well with others. I think that with a more out reaching minority leader and an attitude adjustment by Harry Reid, Speaker of the House Boehner might be found to be less obstreperous. Nobody likes to be ignored.

While we are on necessary changes in relationships, a weekly invitation to the combined leadership to the Oval Office for coffee and conversation might work well to loosen up the gridlock. A little team building and sharing of ideas might be helpful. To put it bluntly, stop acting like a dictator in a bubble.

One last necessary. You do not understand business. If you really want to create jobs, stop what you are doing. Find out from successful people with real world experience what is needed. Then do it. Continue on the same path that you are on and you will fail. Guaranteed.

I don't expect that you will ever see this, Mr. President. If you should see it, I don't think that you will either heed it or even believe it. That does not prove that it is not good advice. Nor does it prove that it wouldn't work. What it might prove is that you are so rigid in your ideology that you cannot tell good from bad and might not even care.

Thoughts on the Morning After

My first thought is "thank God it's over". If I never see another political ad it will be too soon.

I am disappointed by the result, of course, but not terribly surprised. It is awfully hard to beat a candidate when he has eighty percent of the press as a sales force. While they trash the opposition, they cover their favorite's back. There is no way to beat that kind of power. 

Chris Christie's, Mr. Rogers moment with Barack Obama as they strolled, arm in arm, on the New Jersey shore helped Obama beyond gold. Christie should have had better sense. He gained nothing except an open Republican nomination in 2016. Gee, was that the point?

Obama won, but that does not give him a mandate for carte' blanche liberal ideology. I doubt that he believes this. Remember, the Republicans still control the House. The public has shown that they do not want Obama to have infinite power. The House is in the best position to control excesses by the President. They haven't had the stomach to exert those controls before now. Maybe it is time to stand up and be counted. They control the purse strings, use that power.

In the name of human sanity, could we put a time limit on political campaigns?

As I write this, the Dow is down about 180 points. No surprise.

Yesterday the country took another giant step to Eurofication. The "hand out" part of society is now equal to the "hand up" portion of society. I still hope for a return to American exceptionalism. But, I fear, it will take some time.

In my humble opinion, financial matters will not improve in the foreseeable future. More government deficit spending, more taxes, more regulation, and Obamacare are going to force businesses to continue holding cash and not expand either work forces or facilities. Continued "quantitative easing" (printing money) will keep interest rates down and force the value of the dollar lower.

Has four dollar a gallon gasoline become the new normal? Stand by for six.

In spite of the wind in his face, Romney ran a beautifully timed campaign. He peaked out perfectly. Where he failed was in defining himself and his product. His campaign became background noise as Obama was heard shouting from the roof tops of America. While the Democrats were running a campaign like aliens from outer space come to drain your blood, the Republican ran their campaign like the Polite Young Men's Debating Society. That is not today's politics.

One Last Shot

This will be my last blog before the most important election in my lifetime. We are existing with a failed president who is desperately trying to win a second term. A second term that he has not earned and does not deserve. He came into office after standing majestically in front of Greek columns and with supporters that saw a golden aura about their boy king. He came into office on a grand promise of "Hope and Change". The hope soon became hopelessness and the change was for the worse.

Obama came into power as the most powerful leader in the world. He had the House. He had the Senate. He had the Presidency. But even this was not sufficient unto his needs. He immediately appointed forty some czars subservient and answerable only to him. He endowed his agencies with extra-legal power and allowed laws to be ignored to allow himself to circumvent the Constitutional balance of  power.

Then faced with a dying economy he devoted the first and most powerful two years of his administration to a government takeover of health care and doling out largess to his biggest supporters. The country needed jobs. The administration gave us Obamacare and having our money passed out to green energy companies on their way to bankruptcy court. Two years gone. Two years wasted.

When the Republicans took over the House of Representatives in 2010, Obama and his minions shifted gear. With a presidential election coming up in a mere two years, Obama went full time on the campaign trail and the Senate was left behind to make sure that nothing was passed for which the Republicans could take credit. Which essentially means that nothing of consequence was passed.

All the while the administration is passing out money at a record pace. With the highest deficits of any president and a National Debt of sixteen trillion dollars the country is on the edge of a financial cliff and all the administration can devise to do is continue to print and borrow.  And what is their plan should they be given another four years. More of the same. Insanity. 

But it won't be just more of the same. It will be more of the same on steroids. The IRS will be requiring more personal information from the people because they will be administering the financial parts of Obamacare. The EPA will be able to shift their regulatory machine into high gear as there will be no limits. And Obama wants to appoint a "Secretary of Business". Businesses do not need somebody in  government to tell them how to run their businesses. They need the government to get out of the way.

Finally, there is "taxmeggadon". Obama has stated that he will let the country go over the cliff with tax increases because that will let him "own the Republicans". They either cave to his wishes before his second term or if they don't he can blame them for just about any problems that occur in his second term. And we all know how Obama loves to have a scapegoat to blame.

For the sake of the country, Obama must not be given a second term. If he is given a second term, it will take a generation to repair the damage. As I have said, I am an independent conservative. I started supporting Romney because I feared four more years of Obama. As the campaign progressed I came to appreciate Romney as a candidate and as  a man. I admit that he is somewhat lacking in the charisma department. But do we need charisma or competence. I say, competence every time. Right now to get the country back on track we have to get business back on track. This is Romney's area of greatest expertise. He doesn't need a Secretary of Business because he understands business. Large or small. Romney is the man we need now for President. 

Americans at Risk

When did it become acceptable for the sitting administration in Washington to make political decisions to kill Americans? When did the media decide to allow this to happen without a word of dissent? What is happening to our society that there isn't a general uprising among the populace calling for the resignations and impeachments of those responsible?

There are three things in the news over the past four years that I find extremely troubling. The first of course is "Fast and Furious". For anyone who has been living in a cave lately, that was the government's plan to allow firearms to be bought in quantity and shipped into Mexico to the drug cartels. They were to be tracked to locate where these weapons were going. The problem is that nobody in the government bothered to track them. Many people were murdered using these weapons. Ultimately a United States Border Patrol agent was gunned down. His murderer was just convicted.

For three years the Obama administration has been trying to stonewall this, denying responsibility and claiming executive privilege . The blame was pushed onto low level ATF agents. Members of the House of Representatives persevered, with little or no help from the press, and slowly brought out that the scandal went beyond ATF into the Justice Department itself. Again, slowly but surely, more information has shown that it goes much higher in the chain of command. Possibly right into the office of the Attorney General himself.

The second and equally troubling program for killing Americans goes right into the oval office. There has been some small amount of publicity about the President's "Kill List". Apparently the President maintains a list of evil doers on foreign soil that he, using armed drones, can put in his sights and blow them to smithereens by remote control. That is, even if these evil doers are American citizens. It strikes me that there is something terribly un-American about this. We always used to send the CIA or some military Special Operations Group out the capture these people and question them. Perhaps getting additional intel to further the "War on Terror". Now we just blow them into tiny pieces and walk away.

My final example and the one I find most troubling is Benghazi. I have written a great deal about Benghazi both in this blog and in "comments" to on-line news articles. Most of the media hasn't learned to spell Benghazi apparently. If you want coverage you have to go to Fox News. They have been on top of it from the beginning and have done a commendable job.

The US Ambassador to Libya and three other American heroes were killed on American soil inside the American consulate for what I believe were political reasons. They were attacked by an Al Qaeda franchise group. They called for aid three times. That help never arrived even though they could have had an AC-130 Specter gunship there in one hour. The battle lasted seven hours.

The administration handed out dumb cover-up  stories. They tried to sell that it was just a mob action with no organization. That they didn't have enough information from the drone overhead and boots on the ground. In my opinion, they didn't want to send help because it would give lie to the administrations story that Libya was a success and everything is normalizing. There are rumors floating as I write this of e-mails from the White House ordering a "stand down" on rescue operations.

There you have it. Americans dead on our own and on foreign soil for no reason other than political expediency. The press has been ignoring it or belittling it. But there are those of us out here in the blogo-sphere that take these thing seriously and feel their importance. I know the I and those like me reach a small audience. But if enough of us keep trying, I like to think we can make a difference. The public needs to be reminded on occasion that the government is far from perfect and needs constant watching.

Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi

I started watching the Benghazi story early on. When four great Americans, who have devoted their lives to their country, are killed in an American Consulate it is an important story. Apparently the only news organization that agreed with me was Fox News. They stayed on the story and did a great job.

The thing about this story that first attracted my attention was that was no logic in the way the government was spinning it. This wasn't about a couple of dozen teens and twenties burning American Flags and trying to climb the wall. This was a group of trained hard cases with AK-47s and RPGs pouring through a hole that had been blown in the wall in a previous attack. 

Why would the ambassador be in a place this dangerous without adequate protection? Why was he there at all? The story about a bunch of Muslims upset about something on You Tube just did not make sense. Then we were told their was a drone overhead. Why? To have a drone overhead at that critical moment proves that the ambassador didn't just drop in for tea. He was on an assigned mission. There are only two people that can assign a mission to an ambassador. They are the Secretary of State or the President.

If he was on a mission and there was a drone overhead, the feed from that drone was being monitored because something important was happening. I am sure that one place monitoring that feed was the White House situation room. That is what they do there. And be sure, the situation room can contact the President 24/7  if he is not on site. An attack on a consulate would surely be of interest to the President.

Next we find that Ambassador Stevens had asked for more security personnel more than once in previous days. He was refused. Once again, if an ambassador requests security and is refused, the Secretary of State must sign off on that. The people were available. It was a dangerous area. Why deny the Ambassador's request?

The administration wanted to give the impression that things were normalizing in Libya. Peace was upon the land and there was no real threat. Bin Laden is dead. The Al Qaeda threat was ended. An increase in security forces would go against that tale. So let the Ambassador suck it up. Every thing is OK.

We soon found out that this was no populist uprising against a dumb movie. It was a full blown attack by an Al Qaeda franchise. The Ambassador was left on his own calling for help. Three times he was denied. I find that a little symbolic. In an attack it is the military's instinct to head toward the cannons. There were those the were anxious to. They were ordered to "stand down". Three brave men broke ranks and did what they knew to be right and lost their lives for lack of support. One single AC-130 Specter gunship, which was available, could have reversed the outcome.  the battle raged for seven hours. The Specter could have been there in one. It was not allowed to fly.

Then we are served with the ultimate of bull excuses. "We don't send in troops until we have a full picture of what is happening." Mr. Secretary of Defense, you have proven to me what I always suspected. You are nothing but a political hack that will say anything to please his masters. Sir, you have no honor. You had a drone overhead and troops on the ground. You had all the information necessary.

In the latest chapter of ongoing malfeasance, an admiral and a general stationed in the mid-east have been relieved of command. It does make one wonder did they push too hard to do the honorable thing in the face of power politics. If all of the press went at this story as hard as Fox has done we might get a broader view of what happened. Until we learn more, all we can do is look at the evidence and see what actions would line up with that evidence. That would be called a circumstantial case. But we can learn a great deal by observing the circumstances. 

Step Into My Tent (Another Fantasy)

Step right into my tent ladies and gentlemen. This show runs continuously. That's it, push right up to the front and listen carefully. We can cure all your ills. We have sought the "Font of all Knowledge" and in searching have found that we are, in fact, that Font. My name is Dr. Obama and I will be your guide as we explore what you need to know and what you must do to assure you and your descendants have futures that will be golden through time immemorial.

The first thing you must understand is that you must enter that meditative state called "suspension of disbelief". As the "Fount of all Knowledge" I will impart my own brand of wisdom that is far to deep and complicated for the mere mortal mind to comprehend. But with my super powers I can impart this wisdom in a form that will be very useful to you. In fact I, in my infinite generosity, will be happy to give each one of you a religious tract that I have written, at no charge, that explains my philosophy in very simple terms that even you simple folks may understand. It is called "A Plan For Jobs & Middle-Class Security".  

Now there are those that will tell you that this looks like the same text that I have been using for the past four years. They all lie. Do not believe that trash talk. This is all new. See? New paper. New ink. New pictures. Therefore, new plan. Besides the old plan really worked well. Look around you and see how much better things are. OK enough looking around. Please stay focused on me. Remember, I am the"Font of all Knowledge". Since this new plan is four years newer than the old plan it is going to work so much better than even that great old plan worked.

There are some that say I am selling snake oil. I did have some snake oil, but I used it all up to grease the rails for green energy. I know that green energy had some problems at first. That was because of a curse by that evil shaman called Bush. We were forced to make sacrifices to get rid of the curse so we gave a lot of your money to 6 or 8 companies that went right down the tube hopefully taking that curse with them. 

There has been a rumor that green technology is not ready for prime time. Do not believe that. As the "Fount  of all Knowledge",  if I say it is so it must be so.

And thank (enter your favorite deity) that the price of fossil fuels has moved so high. It certainly helps to prevent a lot of excess usage. People are driving far less lately. Since a lot of them don't have jobs it becomes a lot easier to get them to not drive. Hey, I'm just glad you folks pay for the gas for that huge limo you gave me to ride around in. You know a round of golf is expensive enough without paying for gas too.

And, of course, we have managed to shut down a few coal mines. Those are dirty jobs anyway and I'm sure the people that were working in the coal industry are grateful to me for handing them the opportunity to find new work. That is one thing about me I am all about opportunity.

One of my magic cures is called EPA. They have really run with the ball for me. They are finding all kinds of new ways to help small business avoid making the mistakes of the past. Every day they are coming up with new regulations to show small business the way to success. And, along the way, all those fines the levy are a great source of income for my tent show.

The last and greatest of my powerful tools to improve everyone's life is called "taxmegeddon".  It has all those evil Republican witch doctors quaking in their boots. Once my subjects anoint me for another four years I can be as intractable as I want. I will own those contrary little Republicans. I might even appoint myself Dear Leader for Life. It worked for my buddy Ugo. That sounds good to me.

Wait a minute. What's that noise? Why is that guy hooking up that wrecker to my tent? Hey he's starting to pull my tent down. What does that say on the wrecker door? Oh no, it says "Romney's Repair Service".