Just A Thought

As we come into the labor day weekend, I wanted to leave you with this one thing to contemplate as you enjoy the festivities.

How sad it must be to be the President of the United States and the only people that will take your calls are Nancy Pelosi and the French.

Have a lovely holiday weekend folks!!!!

United States Foreign Policy Decoded

To explain a foreign policy, first you must actually have a foreign policy. The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy. Reagan's plan to take down Soviet Communism was a foreign policy. Even George  W. Bush's plan to bring democracy to the middle east was a foreign policy. Painting red lines, bowing low, and making high sounding speeches is not a foreign policy. It is simply reacting to the most immediate crisis.

Some countries like China go beyond a foreign policy.They have ten year and even twenty year plans.They can do this because of their style of government. A style that would be unacceptable to Americans. If we had statesmen instead of craven politicians this would not matter, as the country, given it's freedom, is quite capable of moving to greatness on it's own, as it always has.

A foreign policy can be a set of ideals or just a set of forward reaching ideas that a President can apply consistently when dealing with  other nations. And that other nations will understand going into negotiations. First and foremost must be what is in the best interests of the United States. One thing that I consider in our best interest is not to expend American blood or money without an extremely good cause. That, especially, applies to situations that are entirely internal to another country. If we are harmed by another country or group such a the Islamic jihadists we have every right to dispense punishment and retribution. Forces of occupation are not necessary to do this. There are other means to locate and do harm to our enemies. 

I have watched every war since WWII. Obviously we had to assist our allies in Europe and we were attacked in the Pacific. We had to come to the aid of South Korea. They were and are an ally. We were obliged to help Britain in the Falklands. Again, they  were an ally that requested our help. We had to kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait because our ambassador misspoke and the error needed to be corrected. Other than those we should have minded our own business and punted the ball to the UN.

When we do extend our foreign policy to another country, whether it be through goods, good will, or dollars, we must expect a return on our investment. We appear to be about to get involved in the ghastly civil war in Syria. The President painted himself into a corner with his red line comment. Now, it seems, that he must do something. I do not think that he knows what to do and their are to many competing voices giving advice. They may not be the right voices. That having been said, too many American lives have been lost in recent years attempting to do good for the Muslim people. But they call us imperialists and burn our flag. We have invested more than enough blood and money in the mid-east.

Similar to Egypt, the Free Syrian Army may be the only logical body to regain their country. Giving arms helter-skelter to the rebels may well bite us in the butt, down the road. Shut down Assad's military communications and his airports. Give some help to the FSA. And keep Americans out of there, may be the best we can and should do if we should even do that.

Right now we have a patchwork foreign policy. It does us harm and confuses those, friend or foe, that we involve ourselves with. We need a foreign policy that is coordinated, comprehensive, and clear. Then it will not need to be  decoded.

We Are Not Born With An Instruction Manual

It is a shame, that when new babies come into the world, they are not delivered with an instruction manual. Back when I was younger, I purchased many things, mostly toys for our kids, that needed to be assembled. They always came with a manual. We didn't have a lot of money, so when the car needed repairs, I got greasy and repaired it myself. If the job was extra challenging, I went to the library or the parts store and got a repair manual. Those manuals and other do-it-yourself books were great. Those books allowed me to succeed at tasks that would have been beyond me otherwise.

My wife and I had three daughters. I cannot tell you the times I wish I had an instruction manual for parenting. Neither of us had good basic training in parenting skills from our own rearing. So we did the best we could. I'm sure we made more mistakes in the process than could be counted. But our daughters turned out to be great, accomplished women, who now, I'm sure, wish that they had an instruction manual for our grandkids. I now appreciate that commercial on TV. "To be a parent, you don't have to be perfect. You just have to try." It seems to have worked for us.

Why am I writing all this? Through the graces of "You Tube" and all of those people with cameras in their smartphones, I am seeing more parenting out in the world today that goes beyond what I ever thought of as bad parenting.

Bad enough is the frustrated would-be sports hero that has a kid riding the bench at a little league game, getting physical with the coach. Or the soccer mom that take a wild swing at a referee. But I have seen full grown adults punching kids because their poor little baby got bumped while base running. Please.

I have seen video where mothers actually delivered their daughters to a fight with another girl over a boy and then watched the mother wade into the fight against children. I have seen parents with their kids start riots in parking lots over trivialities.

With parents like this in the world, it is no wonder that we are being overrun with feral children who have no social values except their own pleasure and no sense of remorse about anything. The only life they value is their own. The only pain they acknowledge is their own.

For many, their lives will be short and unpleasant for the most part. They will know little pleasure and no peace. I am just  sorry for the pain they will bring to others during their pathetic existence. What is more the shame is that they have parents that didn't even try. And that is sad.

Our Marvelous Magical President

I was thinking about our President earlier. Thinking about Mr. Obama is becoming a habit that I wish I could rid myself of. I was thinking of his presidency. What he has done. What he has said. His personal actions and the juxtaposition of all three elements. I think that I now understand. The President believes in magic. It has to  be.

Starting way back before he was elected When he displayed his self proclaimed magnificence standing in front of those iconic, or were they Ionic, Greek columns and proclaimed that "when he was elected President the oceans would recede". I can think of only one person in history that could make that kind of claim with some hope of accuracy. OK maybe Moses too, after that Red Sea thing. But Obama had to believe in magic to even consider such a thing.

Do you remember the story of the Pied Piper. The Pied Piper was able to lure the rats out of Hamln with the magical quality of his music. Mr. Obama believes that the mere sound of his voice has the same magical quality. He told us that he would  reach out to those that have come to dislike us and show them the kindness in his heart. He could bring us all together. Now that he has worked his magic, those that disliked us hate us. Those that were our friends distrust us. Those that either respected of feared us, now ignore us. The Pied Piper story turned out badly too.

Out President has a lot of ideas. Through his education, training, experience, and vast intellect he knows all of the things that must be done to make America perfect. Now, I always thought that my country is as close to perfect as it is possible for a country to be. But that's just me. Anyway, he knows all these things that should be done. The problem being he hasn't a clue as to how to do them himself. So he staffs his administration with compliant political hacks and tells them what he wants accomplished fully expecting the results he wants. All that his minions accomplish is utter disaster.

Departments that regulate business, have these businesses so over regulated that they can't function. The President selects winners in his"Grow the Green Economy" contest. Our money is passed out by the barrel full to the people with the proper credentials. Proper credentials consist of being an Obama financial supporter. His friends get rich. The companies go bankrupt and the beat goes on. The magic here is that the money disappears.

But Obama's greatest feat of magic is the marvelous illusion of Obamacare. Obama knew what he wanted. His aim was government control of healthcare at any cost. So he told Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi what he expected. So Harry and Nancy, in turn, told their aides what the President expected. So the aides, in their turn, got a whole bunch of lobbyists together and told them of the expectations of their government. And if the healthcare companies that they lobby for wished to thrive under government healthcare, they better make it work.

I refer you back to the results of the Pied Piper story. That also turned out badly. And the Pied Piper was really more magical than our marvelous magical President. 

Hillary's Presidential Qualifications

 I will make it easy for you. She has none. Now that was pretty simple. But we might want to examine the details that support such a sweeping statement.

First of all, she is a lawyer. For my money, that ends her eligibility right there. While lawyering for  the Rose Law firm, she was involved in the famous Whitewater scandal and testified before a federal grand jury.  As I remember, most of what she testified to was a bad memory. She claimed to do minimal work on Whitewater. But her billing records, somehow, disappeared.  They, miraculously, reappeared on a table in the White House a few years later after she became "first lady".

So, in the White House as she was singing repeated choruses of  "Stand By Your Man" she and a few close friends redesigned the whole healthcare system for the country. (That has a strange echo. Liberals and healthcare. Scary.) It didn't take long to see that the public hated it and it was shuffled off to the Presidential incinerator. Her effort was a huge failure and waste of resources. I suppose, though,  it kept her busy as husband Bill was sorting through the various interns and camp followers. 

Continue reading this article at http://joeforamerica.com/2013/08/hillarys-presidential-qualifications/

Once More Into Egypt

In case you weren't paying attention, Egypt is a mess. The Obama administration is not without blame. Certainly ex-president Hosni Mubark was a dictator. But he was our dictator. In that part of the world, that counts for something. Unless, of course, you are President Obama. Even though Mubarak got along with the US and acted as a fairly peaceful buffer for Israel he had to go.

Unfortunately CAIR, The Council On American Islamic Relations, firmly has the ear of President Obama. Cair is also a strong supporter of, if not an affiliate of, The Muslim Brotherhood and has no place in the monitoring of or directing the path of the United States in the middle east. When Egypt instituted democratic elections the Muslim Brotherhood was destined to win because they were focused and highly organized. The Brotherhood is an Islamist organization dedicated to restoring the Caliphate.

They did win and Mohamed Morsi became President of Egypt. In the mid-east, things are seldom what we think or hope that they are. As time passed, Morsi himself became more and more dictatorial. It seemed that their first democratic election was destined to be their last democratic election.

As they are wont to do in that part of the world, the people took to the street. As the anti-Morsi crowd flocked to the squares the pro-Morsi supporters were there to meet them. Blood was shed and people died. The Islamists went after the Coptic Christians, just because they could. It was a country on fire. In some cases literally.

The Egyptian Army are a rough bunch. Middle eastern armies tend to be that way. But the leadership is smart, well trained, and love their country. I had an Egyptian friend that recently passed. He was an educated man. Although he had lived in the United States for most of his life he still loved the country of his birth. About the time the riots were getting into full swing, he and I had a discussion about Egypt's present and future. We both arrived at the same decision. If Egypt was to survive and be part of the international community, the army had to take a hand.

The problem is that it has gotten very messy.  So the western countries panic willing to accept any solution that stops the bloodshed. The Muslim Brotherhood has no compunctions about blood being shed. Including their own. They feel that their death will be martyrdom and will include the promised advantages of paradise. No one, as yet, has reported back on the honesty of that promise. Call me a doubter. Ultimately, this started in Egypt and must end in Egypt. The rest of the world has no vote.

But if Egypt is to survive with their magnificent history in tact they must go through this painful rebirth. The Egyptian military needs the continued good will of the United States. If we take that away Egypt could turn into the next Afghanistan. That would be a sorry thing.

Some Thanks and Some Thoughts

I wold like to thank my readers. Especially the ones that come back on a regular basis. I less than eighteen months the Cranky Conservative blog has had twenty thousand hits from seventy-nine different countries. In my first month I don't think I got over 150 hits. The work has been worth it. And I'm happy to be back writing for a national venue at "Joe for America"

The incidence of black on white violence is forty times greater than white on black violence but gets very little attention in the press and is never attributed to racism. I have been around too long and seen to many things to believe racism only goes one way. Messrs. Holder and Obama may operate under that belief but they have, what has become, a very transparent agenda.

The dereliction of duty in the press will one day turn around and bite them squarely in the butt. I, for one, will offer no sympathy.

An educated person is more concerned with the abundance that they don't know than the little that they do know.

Al Gore has completely lost it. The temperature has not risen in fifteen years but he still equates those that do not accept global warming with racists, alcoholics, smokers,  supporters of apartheid, and homophobes. Al, as a friend, (I'm really not his friend), put yourself in for treatment. It may not be too late.

Forty ground to air missiles were stolen at the Benghazi massacre. And we are just finding this out now. Transparency receives another fatal blow. 

I hope all you ex-full time employees out there are enjoying your new part time jobs. Hopeless change strikes again.

The economy is not improving despite what the administration claims. We are in a mess.

Stand Up Mr. President

When a Cambridge, Massachusetts police officer, in the proper enactment of his duties, asked a African American college professor for identification, and asked him to leave his house so the officer could check for intruders by police protocol, you were quick to shout racism and castigate this officer. This, even though the professor was un-cooperative and throwing a screaming fit. You, sir, were wrong. To save face you had the famous beer summit. I can assure you that to most Americans your image was not enhanced.

When Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida under strange circumstances, you were quick to label it racist and even tried to spiritually adopt the dead young man. I think any reasonable person would say that the President of the United States should keep his nose out of what may or may not be a possible criminal investigation. You had no business there.

But you are remarkably silent on two important issues. Black on white crimes of violence and black on black crimes in general. I do not refer to making comments about a specific case that is open without an arrest. I am speaking of the unhealthy climate that exists in large segments of the black community.

Mr. President, you seem to think that only white people can be racist. That is patently untrue. There seems to be a growing anger among many blacks today that is greater than at any time that I can remember. I lay a large part of the responsibility for this at the feet of people like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, you and AG Holder.

Your words and actions have provoked a sense of entitlement that the young people brood on. They feel that they have been cheated. I believe that many of them have been. But it is not the white people in the community that have done the cheating.

If these young people listened to folks like Bill Cosby rather than Harry Belafonte and Thomas Sowell rather than Al Sharpton, they would understand the way to success is an education not a gun. I have heard that there is a feeling among young people in the inner city that getting an education is a white thing. You don't want  to be doing that you gotta keep it real.

This is an opportunity for you Mr. President, to actually lead. Sit in that beautiful Oval Office. Look into the TV camera. And as a black man give the kind of impassioned speech that you can give. Tell these black kids the truth. Most of them are not going to be great athletes or entertainers. Tell them that education, ambition, responsibility, and work is the ticket out of the ghetto. They've been lied to for a long time. Maybe it is time for you to stand up Mr. President.

Random Thoughts Twenty-Three

I have not been submitting any articles to national websites for a few months now. "Joe the Plumber" called and asked if I would write for his website, "Joe For America". I agreed and can be found there on a weekly basis. Here is the link http://joeforamerica.com/

My first article for "Joe" is about the UN arms treaty that President Obama seems ready to sign. The treaty is bad and free Americans should never subject themselves to UN rule in any way.

Eventually, I will try to link my "Joe" articles with my blog. For now I am taking small steps so I can learn their format. Their whole software setup is new to me.

So, back to business as usual. Republicans of America rise up and be heard now or you will never be heard from again. Boehner, McConnell, and McCain can no longer lead your party. They have lost the fire in their bellies and are to quick to go along to get along. Republicans must show new ideas and the pride to go into the hard sell. Republicans must stop talking in whispers lest they offend a Democrat. To put it bluntly, grow a pair!

Have you heard about Ms. Sebelius Obamacare navigators. They are planning to hire a bunch of people off the street. There will be no background checks. They will not even be fingerprinted. They will be given twenty hours of training. (There are lawyers that have studied Obamacare for twenty months and still don't understand it.) Then Health and Human Services will give the complete access to all of your personal data including your tax returns. Cool,huh? The geniuses of this administration strike again.

Obama is back from his vacation. Of course he is just overnighting in DC. Then he is off again across the country to give two speeches on the cost of education. Not two different speeches. The same speech, twice. Mr. President, can't they bring a TV camera into the oval office? Maybe in this time of need you could stop burning up our money like it comes from old Monopoly games. I know you like to stand in front of adoring crowds, but enough. The mid-east is on fire and we need jobs. Just in case nobody told you.

I understand that the President is asking the Supreme Court for warrentless cell phone searches. Have you not learned, Mr. President, that we have a Forth Amendment that disallows things like that and we do not want you to continue going around the Constitution? I thought that you had studied the Constitution. Or were your studies limited to how to get around that grand document? Stop, sir. We demand it.

Chaos, And It Is Not Theory

Five years. Just five short years. I realize that five years ago there were problems. I disagreed with so many things that the government was doing. I also disagreed with some things that they weren't doing. It seems that George Bush forgot what the veto was for. I disagreed with going into Iraq. Chasing bin Laden back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan was an exercise in getting young Americans killed and burning up American money. It is not that I disagreed on the desired results. I disagreed on the method.

Now, five years later, we are burning through American wealth like it is poison that we must dispose of. We are doing it in peculiar and untraceable ways. The money goes out with seemingly no restrictions to countries that hate us and businesses that we have never heard of and have no record of success. The businesses disappear along with our cash. The money sent to foreign nations just vanishes. And the American people are the poorer for it.

Meanwhile we have a domestic government that is ridden with scandal. The scandals come one after another in rapid succession and they are automatically declared phony by the President and his spokes-people. These scandals are not phony. They are absolutely real. They are a sign of a sick and malfunctioning administration that has come to think of themselves as the rightful ruling class. Using the IRS and the DOJ to protect the political party in power is beyond wrong and goes right into criminal. The problem being that those in power are the perpetrators. And for some bizarre reason the press that should be all over this just gives them a wink and a nod.

While the mid-east is on fire, Russia and China are eating our lunch. We have no foreign policy beyond an apology and a bow. We show no resolve. We are now the weakest kid at the lunch table. We have few friends that will go to bat for us anymore because we have shown no respect to them. We embrace those that hate us hoping that will make them love us. It does not. They take our overtures as weakness. For that is what it is. 

We are creating few good jobs anymore. Three quarters of the jobs being produced today are part time. Less than thirty hours a week. Salaries are dropping for the middle class. Companies are not expanding. Quantitative easing is buoying up the stock market. That must end soon or the dollar will be worth nothing. When it does end it will bring bad times. The jobs market will sink even lower. I don't want to be a pessimist but I have to call it the way I see it.

So the government is expanding. The private sector is shrinking. Governmental ineptness is making matters worse. That same inept government is taking control of health care through select health insurers and using the scandal plagued IRS to administer it. They are fumbling so badly on start up that they may decide to take over completely and make it a one payer system possibly by absorbing these health insurers right into the government. There are other things that I could mention that scare me. Like their domestic army. But I think you see why I think it is real chaos and not just a theory.

On Racism

Is the United States a racist country? No, it most certainly is not. I challenge anyone to name a country that is home to more various nationalities and races than our great country. I challenge anyone to name a country that has done more to help the disadvantaged of any race than this great country.

Is there racism out there? There most certainly is. All one has to do is read some of the comments that are made to on-line news articles. Some of them would have been found appropriate in Nazi Germany in the bad old days or at a KKK meeting in the 50s. But, thankfully, the people whose minds trend that way are a small and ever diminishing minority. 

Contrary to what the, somewhat senile, Senator from Nevada says, all conservatives are not racist. In fact it is the conservatives in government in past years that pushed through most of the civil rights and voter rights legislation that protects minorities today.

But I have found one place in our society where racism runs rampant. That is in the liberal world of show business. While flipping through the TV channels the other night I came across a "reality" show that was purportedly taking place in a pawn shop in Detroit. It seems that a large part of the entertainment in this program was offered by African Americans behaving crazy, or violently, or profanely, or just plain boorishly.

I'm not sure where this started, but I think back to the show "Sanford and Son", starring an old time comedian, Redd Foxx. This show goes back to 1972. But, as I remember it, it came off making Foxx look sneaky and his son, Lamont, looking dumb. A number of situation comedies followed that did nothing to improve public perception. Then there came a whole series of black exploitation movies. For all of the high sounding words mouthed by the Hollywood elite, they are users and exploiters. They call it their art so that they can claim artistic license. They just insist on a free pass to do as they please without criticism. Trust me people, we should all be a little bit more critical and vote against these shows by withholding good old American dollars from the box office and from sponsors.

The other area where racism runs rampant is Washington D.C. One is not allowed to disagree with the present administration on principle. Such disagreement must stem from racism. That is the shield and the buckler of the liberal defense. Every whackadoo policy they come up with is magnificent and will probably save the world in their eyes. Those that recognize this insanity when they see it are naught but racists. The real racists here are those that constantly use race as a hammer against the opposition.

So here I sit, an old white guy, writing about racism. White guys that write about racism are generally referred to as racists themselves. I have known racists. I grew up in a time where casual racism was accepted. I have been to the south in the 50s and seen real racism first hand. The greater population of the people today have, thankfully, left racism behind. Today most of the racism I see is among those that cry racism the loudest.

Hedonism In Our Capitol

What suggested this blog to me was the news that our President was playing cards as the Osama bin Laden raid was going down. I understood that Mr. Obama personally orchestrated and led that raid. He led from the rear of course. Way far in the rear. It seems that Reggie Love, Obama's ex body man, whatever a body man might be, was interviewed and told that he and the President were playing spades, no racism intended, while bin Laden was being taken down. Mr. Love said that Mr. Obama couldn't watch the whole thing. I would think that a man dedicated to ending the power of Al Qaeda couldn't look away from the screen. He looked so intent in his little photo-op. But, I guess, a good game of spades trumps all.

The acme of hedonism is to be given a giant jet plane, equipped with every conceivable luxury, that will take you anyplace in the world. And to have that plane be paid for by the American taxpayer. Then to be able to use this plane to go on the grandest vacations ever. You can not only bring your wife, but your extended family and friends, still on the American taxpayers. When you get to your destination, you never stand in line. You never have to wait for a seat in the best restaurants. Common people are swept from your path by heavily armed folks that do not take no for an answer. Besides that you get to stay in hotels and private homes suitable for royalty.

And when your back in that great mansion that used to be the peoples house, the parties are amazing. Sports celebrities, famous entertainers, great names int the arts and sciences are all invited. The food would be suitable for the greatest gourmets of any age. It is a shame that you can no longer afford to support tours by school children through the peoples house. But, I guess, some things are more important than others.

Lest anyone think that I am just picking on the President, Congress and Department heads do pretty well too. Luxurious offices, chauffeured limos, in house gyms and restaurants are all perks that are widely enjoyed. Fact finding junkets to exotic places are common and always at our expense. Some department heads even spend thousands of dollars for air transportation back and forth daily to work, paid for by us, because they do not want to live in Washington.

The elected people in Washington own the cookie jar. It is a big cookie jar and there are a lot of hands in there. You expect some of that. There is an old saying, "to the victor go the spoils". But lately it is too often unrestrained and beyond good taste. The media is supposed to be the controlling influence that watches over our interests and sounds the alarm if we are being abused. Of late they seem to have abrogated that responsibility. That is why we have hedonism in Washington.

Confusion And Disarray

When I was younger, I used to ignore rumors. I felt that they were, at best, unreliable and, at worst, out and out lies. In today's political maelstrom, they are more likely to be someone coming forward to reveal a hidden truth. This "most transparent" administration has many many hidden truths. 

A few of these rumors have involved Benghazi. The latest rumor is that forty ground to air missiles were stolen during the attack. Another rumor is that Ambassador Stevens was in Benghazi to meet with a representative of the Turkish government about moving weapons through Turkey into the hands of the Syrian rebels. What was a rumor and is now accepted as fact is that Al Qaeda orchestrated the attack. The final rumor for now is that Valarie Jarrett gave the stand down order.

So, let us assume that those missiles were in United States control. If we were still negotiating with Turkey, the missiles were not in Turkey nor Syria. Therefore there was a good chance that they were in Benghazi. Probably under the care of the CIA. So did Al Qaeda know about those missiles or was the raid a coincidence? My instincts tell me there was a set up. So how did they get the information? Where was it sourced? If the stand down order hadn't been given could those missiles been protected? Who actually gave the order and why? If we could get drones there we could have gotten an AC-130 or F-16s there. Maybe I am adding two and two and getting five, but these are legitimate questions.

Adding to the confusion and disarray is the situation with the IRS. Although they have been caught with their collective hands in the cookie jar, up to the elbow, nothing seems to have changed. No one has been fired. Lois Lerner has been given an extra long paid vacation at taxpayer expense. It has now come out that she was using her personal email to avoid oversight. The IRS is still harassing conservative groups. People at the heart of the scandal have received promotions. Washington business as usual.

A few days ago, Health and Human Services Director, Kathleen Sebelius was kind enough to explain to the unknowing American taxpayer that "It is no longer a debate. In Washington we call Obamacare the law". Well it is nice that that kind lady explained it to us. Now, if she would only explain it to the President and the Congress. It seems that they can exempt themselves and anyone else they wish from this law. If it is actually a law then they are lawbreakers and should be prosecuted. If it is not the law and they are free to go about their business, then they should exempt the rest of us.  

So, it comes down to this. We have a royal presidency. We have a bunch of spineless worms in Congress. We have an administration that is out of control and cares not a whit for the American taxpayer. The rich are getting richer. The politicrats are taking more privilege for themselves. Our healthcare system is getting shredded. The middle class is losing ground, and most of the jobs that are being created are part time. We are definitely in a time of confusion and disarray. 

The Joy of Okeanos

I have always loved the ocean. Through my whole life, I don't think I have ever lived more than thirty miles from salt water. The sea and the life contained therein is a constant source of wonder and newness. So I was really happy to find that the marine survey ship Okeanos was streaming live audio and video during their Northeast Canyons survey. Their cameras are trained on the canyons and canyon walls off of the northeast coast near the US, Canadian border.

There is something relaxing sitting in front of my computer just watching the ocean bottom as the operators of the cameras focus in for closeups of animal life that I have never seen before and would never see otherwise. It is an unhurried process because the appearance of the stars of the show, these unusual undersea creatures, don't live to a schedule. They come on camera when fate decides. For those of you who would like to tune in, here is the link  http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html

One thing that is most interesting is the audio stream. You can hear the scientists, the pilots of the underwater remote operated vehicles, and the ships crew interacting. They are a joy for me to listen to. They are unhurried and collegial. There is a sense of complete co-operation. These people are happy, even joyful, in their work. They are contributing to the sum total of knowledge and are pleased to do so. As I work on other projects during my day, I leave the audio feed on so that I may quickly tab over to the video if something interesting comes on screen. It adds to my day immensely.

Most of what I look at and write about revolves around Washington, DC. The differences between the conversation among the denizens of that confused and misguided city are in stark contrast to the scientists and engineers of the Okeanos. The people on the Okeanos in their unhurried manner seem to be getting so much accomplished. I am sure that the video tapes of their explorations will benefit fellow scientists and students for many years to come. I will attest that it gives me pleasure, relaxation, and a total change of pace as I go about my day. That is the joy of Okeanos.

The Arrogance of Washington

Although I understand our first President had his moments, it is not him that I refer to. I am referring to the politicrats and those subservient to them that go to Washington D.C., supposedly, to preserve the Union, protect the Constitution, and do our nations business. You may not be familiar with the word, politicrat. It is a word I coined to cover all of those elected officials that go to Washington to expand their personal power and net worth. Political party is irrelevant. They seem to be like the non-migratory geese around my area. Their population keeps growing and you can't get rid of them.

There are sign that will tell you if someone is a politicrat. If they refer to the scandals surrounding the administration as phony or just pretend they don't exist and say nothing, that is a politicrat. If they are forcing Obamacare down your throat while cutting special deals for themselves, politicrat. If they tell you the economy is recovering and point to the stock market, politicrat. If they brag about creating new jobs and don't tell you that two thirds of them are part time, politicrat. I think you get the idea.

Now most people out in fly-over country realize that the only thing you can't get if you work for the government is fired. So those that we employ to do our day to day work adopt the attitude that they see in our elected officials. They become arrogant. Listen to the answers Congress got from salaried people that work for us,when questioned at congressional hearings. "I stand on my fifth amendment rights not to incriminate myself." When IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman was asked why he visited the White House one hundred and fifty-seven times, he answered, with a smirk, that he might have been there for the Easter egg hunt. Cindy Thomas, the IRS employee in charge of tax exempt groups, where this all started,  just received a promotion. The epitome of arrogance to me was when Hillary Clinton was questioned about Benghazi she shouted "What difference does it make now?".

Then there is everybody's nasty old uncle, Harry Reid. He stood proud in front of his maker and a microphone declaring each and every Republican a racist. Not only that, he stated that Republicans didn't want anyone to have health care. Really? Every Republican? Now that is arrogant. For the record, I used to be a Republican. I am an independent. 

OK. I cannot write a blog without bringing our President into it. I don't plan it that way but there is just so much there. Almost five years into his presidency and he has yet to take responsibility for anything. Credit yes. You would think that he strapped on his cowboy pistol and went out and did Osama ben Laden all by his lonesome and as a result, destroyed Al Qaeda. We all know neither is true, but by his own admission, he also does not wash dishes in the White House. Also, while we can no longer afford White House tours for school children, it seems we can still afford to fly Air Force One back and forth across the country for campaign speeches, take hugely expensive vacations, and even air lift the first dog to the Vineyard. I will bet we all knew that. But that is the arrogance of Washington.

Random Thoughts - Twenty-two

I'm trying to understand. For months now the NSA program of monitoring phone calls and emails has been all over the world news. So the communications sophisticated leadership of Al Qaeda just happens to put through a conference call with twenty of their best and brightest. During this conference call they discuss attacks on US embassies throughout the middle east and Africa. So due to this remarkable intelligence coup, we shut down over twenty embassies and haul their staffs out of town. Right! Thank God we have geniuses running our government.

Now the government is going to monitor your neighborhood to make sure it is diverse enough. We went through school busing. Does this mean we are going to have home busing. Am I going to have to go across town every day for racial balance? Thank God we have a post-racial president.

Vladimir Putin sent good wishes to President George Bush after his heart surgery. I think that says something about respect. Our current President might take note.

I heard that Obama has placed Savannah and Jacksonville on the Gulf Coast. You mean that the smartest president ever doesn't know the geography of the United States? Gee, maybe he is not all that smart. Frankly, I have not seen any proof of his media bestowed genius.

How about them Red Sox. Who coulda guessed?

In a speech, Obama stated that black students shouldn't be punished for misbehavior. That seems a strange thing for a post racial president to say. So Whites, Hispanics  and Orientals can be punished but Blacks get a free pass. I do not understand.

I still say that after the 2014 election Barack is going to toss Hillary under the bus. There is no love lost between the Obamas and the Clintons. She was put in a position where she could accomplish nothing as Secretary of State. She spent way to much time in Africa to be an actor on the world stage. I think, the end is near.

Just when you think TV has gone as low as possible, they come up with a new concept that takes the world to a new bottom. MSNBC, the network that allows Al Sharpton his own show, is now giving Alec Baldwin his own show. Are there no adults in charge over there. I do believe that they have a corporate death wish.

Benghazi - Eighth Update

I said I would keep re-posting my original Benghazi blog until we started getting answers. In my total naivete, I stopped because I thought the process was under way. I was wrong. As the politocrats wanted, the Benghazi scandal was being lost in the fog of new scandals that hit closer to home. The IRS and the NSA affect people directly in their daily lives. That gets their attention. In other words the politocrats had pulled the curtain back over what they don't want you to see. But the Benghazi scandal is coming back to life.

Make no mistake, the Benghazi scandal is the one this administration fears most. They can label it "phony" all they want. It is real. The Benghazi scandal taints two people primarily. That is the President and the woman that would be his replacement. It is their lack of pride and lack of decisiveness along with a fear of political fallout that caused, directly or indirectly, the debacle in Benghazi. I may not be the loudest voice to express deep concern about the failure of our government to protect Americans on American soil. But I am a voice. If all that are like minded keep up the struggle for honesty and justice we will ultimately prevail. So my re-posts start again and will continue.

Update Number Eight

The administration has finally handed down sealed indictments against the leaders in the Benghazi attack. For no discernible reason, it took a year. They immediately made a public announcement to show how tough they are getting, I assume. Since the "suspects" now know we are coming for them, they will probably disappear into someplace in Africa or the middle east where they will not be found and their story will be kept hidden.

Also, there is a rumor out there that Valarie Jarrett gave the stand down order. I repeat, this is an unsubstantiated rumor. But since she is not in the chain of command that would be just so wrong if it were true.

So lets move on to my original blog that dates back to October 29, 2012.

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 AC-130 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.

The Joy Of Police Work

I have never been a cop, but I truly admire them. It is a great career. And anyone that is willing to run toward the danger is to be respected. But what I want to write about here is investigative work. In my mind, this is the highest level of police work. I suspect that most people that go into police work aspire to be investigators.

The latest scandals involving the FBI, the DEA, the NSA, and the ATF, trouble me greatly. Especially since three of those agencies are domestic policing agencies. The time was, and it was not too long ago, that when a crime happened or if it was suspected that a crime was being planned, the proper investigative machinery got into gear and did their job. They put people on the street. They sought out informants. They turned forensic scientists loose with all of the solid evidence that they could find. When and if they found that they had reasonable cause, they would go before a judge asking for the appropriate warrants. 

Once the warrants were issued, they could bring the investigation to the next level with wire taps, search and seizure, tracking and who knows what all else. Conclusions would be reached by those most qualified. These conclusions would be brought before a grand jury. If the case was made, indictments would be handed down. Arrests would be made. Finally all involved would be brought to a trial by a jury of their peers. That system may be complicated and slow, but protections were in place and the Constitution was respected.

Today there are many more powerful tools available. We are facing, not only domestic crime, but also international terrorism so the pressure is on to prevent or prosecute both. Wide nets and shortcuts are appealing. There seems to be an attitude of "whatever it takes to get the job done". It cannot be that way.

Americans are a generally law abiding people who value their privacy and the security of their homes. Their phone calls and emails are inviolable. They are protected against illegal search. The Constitution says so and the Constitution is the highest law of the land. There is nothing in the Constitution that allows the FBI to give a free pass to some criminals to prosecute crimes against Americans just to make the FBI's job easier. The use of snitches is fine, just keep them straight or arrest them.

The NSA doesn't have Constitutional consent to tap everyone's phone and computer, much less to take what they gather and disseminate it to other agencies. Foreign calls and identified enemies of the state, fine. The Patriot Act gives them that right. The rest of us, not so fine. 

Get boots on the street, do the research, investigate. Law enforcement agencies shouldn't have to be reminded what the law is. They represent the law. American citizens must not be their victims. There are enough real bad guys out there for them to pick on. And that is the joy of police work.

U.S.A. - R.I.P.

The country that I grew up in is gone. It has met it's demise. The ball was teed up in the last four years of the Bush administration. Then President Obama came into office and slammed it down the fairway for a hole in one. We have lost our Constitutional Republic.

We have no foreign policy. Those that used to be close allies hold us in disdain. We treat them the way a social climber treats old friends that they feel they have outgrown. Snub them long enough and they get the message that they are no longer needed. Then go forth and bow and scrape before old enemies that would kill us to win their thanks and friendship. That certainly doesn't work. They see us as weak in a part of the world that respects only strength. Expediting the overthrow of those leaders that offered our country support, even if that support had a price tag, while climbing in bed with the jihadist, shariah supporting, CAIR, is also a poor strategic move. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin essentially thumbs his nose at our President.

Announcing that you have Al Qaeda on the run. That their leadership is almost non-existent would be all right, if it were only true.  It is not true. A fact that was obvious to anyone who followed the news, even before Benghazi. The administration allowed Al Qaeda to kill four Americans including a sitting Ambassador. Then they tried to cover up the facts with subterfuge and false stories. A ploy that only amplified our inferred weakness in the middle east.

Meanwhile back in the fifty states, we face a litany of scandals. All very serious. And all passed off by the administration, that takes responsibility for nothing, as phony scandals. We have a President that plays golf, vacations, and scoots about the world making speeches "full of sound and fury signifying nothing". He leaves others behind to do the work he was hired for. That way his fingerprints are found on nothing. 

Things are a little different for the average citizen. More than half of the population pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent get food stamps. Forty percent are out of work and middle class income is down about ten percent. Not a cheery life in today's USA

Then we have the ATF and the DOJ smuggling weapons into Mexico that end up killing people on both sides of the border, because someone forgot to track them and get them back. We have the FBI giving a free pass to criminals to commit crimes, as long as they give the FBI information about other criminals. We have the NSA monitoring all telephone and email traffic without a warrant and with no suspicion of a crime, thinking that a wide enough net will catch something. We have the DEA taking information from the NSA to make cases and bring them to trial while lying to defense lawyers and judges about how they got the information. We have the IRS used to harass and punish groups of people that disagree with the administration. We have Obamacare taking over one sixth of the economy and taking control of who will get what medical care.

We have a generation of career politicrats that give only lip service to the Constitution and would eliminate the first, second, and fourth Amendments in a minute. In spite of all this, we are really not ready to bury the body yet. After all, Lazarus was brought back from the dead. With the proper laying on of hands we can get our freedom back. We need statesmen (of both sexes) that love the Constitution and will forgo opportunism. We need the people back in charge that are not in it for personal gain or power. We need leaders that respect us and that will earn our respect. Then the dying body politic will be on the way back to life.  

The Power Of Positive Speaking

Many years ago, the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book called "The  Power Of Positive Thinking". It was a very popular self help book teaching that people could overcome difficulties by keeping a positive attitude, keeping faith, and working hard. It was inspiring and helped many people get beyond the hardships they faced.

Lately and understandably, Barack Obama's popularity has flagged. But for over four years, with a foreign policy on the rocks of despair, an economy on the bottom of dismal swamp, and a jobs market that was closed for repairs, his personal popularity boomed. People loved him. This was proven when, in the face of a plethora of unsolved problems, he still won a second term.

How did he accomplish this remarkable feat? It wasn't by the power of positive thinking. It was by the power of positive speaking. There are two things in life that President Obama loves above all. They are his tele-prompter and the sound of his own voice. He tries to exercise both daily with lectures to his long suffering public.

When the President stands in front of a TV camera a transformation takes place. I do not know if this is an instinctive and natural metamorphosis or if he has received special training at some point in his career. The way he moves and the way he speaks, his sense of timing, all remind me of a combination of a skilled stand-up comedian and an old time evangelical preacher. His cadence, his pauses, his pronunciation are all different from his conversation. The transformation is kind of amazing.

Our President will stand with his head tilted back as if he is peering down on us and he will say things that are totally at odds with the listeners observations and experience. But they will want to believe him because his words and demeanor show a degree of positiveness that is almost impossible to disregard.

He will claim to have done things that were never done and promise to do things that we know that he will never do. But we want to believe him. It is the power of positive speaking brought to an almost un-natural level. Everything about him shouts believe, believe, believe.

Our President is a modern day snake oil salesman. He will tell you what you want to hear. He will make you believe. But I am here to tell you, you do it at your own risk and at the risk of your country.

Motion Without Progress: The Obama Story

President Obama came into office in the midst of a bad economy. That much is undeniable. There are a number of reasons why the economy was bad at that point. Part of it was that President Bush didn't pay proper attention to the domestic financial markets and he put too much trust in his fathers people. Another reason is that the Democratically controlled Congress of the last four Bush years, went on a spending spree that Bush did not control with the power of the veto. But it was not as President Obama claimed, "the worst economy since the Great Depression". History is not one of our President's strong points.

Mr. Obama ran a campaign based on "hope and change". Since the press had excoriated everything about the Bush administration, most people liked the idea of change. Foolishly, no one ever tried to nail down what those changes would be except for ending wars, closing Guantanamo Bay, and getting the world at large to love us. Oh, and lowering the level of the Oceans.

So here we are, almost five full years into the Obama presidency. Wars are still raging, Gitmo is still open, and more of the world hates us and no country respects us any more. His signature product, Obamacare, was farmed out to  Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to get done. Now we face a healthcare plan that may ruin healthcare and bankrupt the economy.

For the first four years or so, all that went wrong was reflected back on George Bush. Obama said it. The press and the pundits sold it. Enough people believed it to keep Obama on the positive side of the polls. Somehow Obama has become the anti-Truman. Truman said, "the buck stops here". For Obama the buck always stops at a much lower pay-grade as he floats, pure as the driven snow, above the dirty fray. Even as the economy stayed in the doldrums, he still had popular support.

Now, Obama's favorite management technique is to campaign. He has never stopped campaigning. Even when there is nothing more to campaign for, he just keeps on making those interminable campaign speeches. His favorite campaign spot? Anyplace at the end of a flight on Air Force One. Then get to a stage and get a group of loyal followers behind him, set up his tele-prompter, and he is good to go. He gets full coverage from the networks of course, even if it is the same speech he has been giving for the last month.

Then he can head back to the White House. Pop into the oval office to make a few phone calls. Get briefed by Al Sharpton and his friends from CAIR. Spend an evening at a soiree with a few folks from Hollywood. Play a Sunday round of golf and he is off on Air Force One for another tough week of campaigning. He has people that take care of the rest of his obligations for him. Like the day to day running of the country.

So here we are today. The economy is no better. actually, I think it is worse. The country is deeper in debt than is sane by any standards. Billions of dollars have been wasted on failed projects like Solyndra. Now, Al Qaeda is playing us like a toy flute. So in the past four plus years, as anyone can see, we have had nothing but motion without progress.

Please, No Third Party

Plain and simple, there is no need for a third party. All that will do is empower liberals well into the future. The country cannot afford that on so many levels. But if the Republicans want success instead of a permanent second place finish, there is much work to be done and many attitudes to be changed.

The Republicans need to look at a total reorganization. They must look at it as if they were starting a new organization from scratch. Actually they are. The old organization has crumbled from dry rot. I used to be a Republican. I left the party when I realized that almost everyone had their own set of principles, or goal, or maybe even needs, that they would not compromise. My way or the highway. Incrementalism be damned.

When you organize from scratch, the first thing needed is a Mission Statement. It should be brief, concise, and strong. Five points with a short paragraph each is enough to show the mindset and direction that points to the ultimate aims. The points should be strongly conservative. This gives the opportunity to show that a conservative philosophy can be both fair to all and concerned with the American destiny. Most importantly, everyone must be aboard with this mission statement. If one does not agree with a point, let them keep their own council and work for the greater good.

They say that the President has a "Bully Pulpit". That was true when Teddy Roosevelt first said it and it is still true today. That does not mean that the Speaker of the House and the Senate Minority Leader have no pulpit at all. All they have to do is acquire enough spine to put the megaphone to their mouth and use that lesser pulpit for all it is worth. Shout out the Presidents errors and misstatements. Stand proudly in opposition to bad public policy. Stop turning to mush when the President looks down his nose at you and glares. Man up.

The next thing that absolutely must be done is to resurrect President Reagan's eleventh commandment. "Speak no ill of a fellow Republican." Learn it. Love it. Live it. Tout your own policies. One never makes themselves look better by trying to make someone else look worse. If you disagree with another candidate, keep it to yourself. Sell your own product. I guarantee that there  are plenty of people out there that disagree with you. Be persuasive not destructive.

Another point. Politics is not church. People want to vote for leaders of the civil establishment. If you are a strongly religious person, do not ever be tempted to deny your religion, but also don't be tempted to flaunt it. Humility in one's faith is proof enough of it's strength.  

Finally, the wishy-washy, Rockefeller Republicans of the past have had their day. There is no longer a comfortable middle ground. America is a conservative country. Not hard right over the top conservative. Americans are the people that believe in being strong for family and community. They are hard working and self-sufficient. They want to own property and be left alone to live their lives as they see fit. They believe that the United States Constitution is the greatest political contract ever and is a ignored at great risk. They believe that the American Flag is not just a piece of cloth. They know that America is the greatest country the world has ever known.

Obama's Legacy Opportunity

Barack Obama is concerned about his legacy. He should be. His policies have been harmful to this country almost to the point of being anti-American. He has an agenda but he has no sense of purpose.  No true vision. Worst of all his agenda is steeped in the liberal-socialist cant of his college days.

His basic narcissism always leads him to the conclusion that he is the smartest person in the room therefore needs no advice. He just requires strict obedience. Because of this mindset he believes that those who disagree with him are mortal enemies to be destroyed. Negotiations are impossible with a person of this mindset. Negotiations come down to "do my bidding or I will do it without you".

Yesterday I posted a blog about Saul of Tarsus. He was also an educated, stubborn, self-absorbed man. But on the road to Damascus he had an epiphany and realized the error of his ways. Now is the defining moment when Barack Obama could have his epiphany and put our country back on positive course. Now, or it will be too late. For both him and the country. 

The over-riding need in the world today is energy. This is true for every country, large and small. We have turned over control of our energy future to those that don't like us very much. We have an opportunity to take our future back and regain control of our country.

We are sitting on an ocean of energy with a tower of supportive technology. The only thing that is holding us back is the liberal dedication to the green establishment that would bankrupt our country so that we can live out our poverty in a park like environment. Like so many of these dedicated groups they do not understand, and have no tolerance for, moderation.

Build the XL Pipeline. It is a safer way to move oil than Mr. Buffet's trains. With horizontal drilling techniques we can reach pockets of oil leaving a smaller footprint on the landscape along with higher production. Natural gas burns clean and is a natural for over the road power sources. These along with the new compact nuclear power plant designs and experimental power sources that will probably be along in the next three to five decades, our country has an energy future.

If the government stopped obstructing energy development and embraced intelligent energy development we could have more manufacturing and more jobs. We could be energy independent.  The politicians need to realize that this would bring far more of their beloved money into the treasury for them to spend. Even to the point where they could actually fund Obamacare without damaging the healthcare delivery system and it will save people money at the same time, as the politicians promised.

We can no longer afford energy obstructionism. Mr. Obama, that is your legacy opportunity.