Five Points, One For Each Finger

I no longer have any skin in the Republican game. That allows me to see clearly, what they should do, and to offer advice ad nauseum.  This is a task that I accept with great joy because they seriously need a good talking to. Since I am still a conservative, but no longer part of the Republican party, the Republicans come closest to representing my frame of mind.

To make anything work for the next election the Republicans must first stop bickering among themselves . Look at the Democrats. Most of them can barely stand to be around their cohorts. Some of them are so onerous that they can barely stand themselves. But, come election time, they all sing from the same hymnal in perfect harmony. So, come on Republicans, suck it up and do what must be done.

So as you are assembling this hymnal, keep it to five and only five songs. When you are asked a question by a reporter sing one of those songs. Sing it loud. Sing it clear. Sing it often.

What shall I do, you ask, if some reporter asks me a question off topic? I answer, did you not take "politician 101". When you are asked a question that you don't want to answer, answer the question that you want to answer. Reporters are aware of this ploy. They see it every day. They expect it. That is how all the Democrats keep to the same talking points.

So, what points should the Republican party hammer? Remember, five, just five.

1. Obamacare: It is a mess now and will continue to be a mess for some time. Certainly long enough to effect the 2014 election. They don't have the political courage to admit that they have bought a sick horse that will never carry the weight. It is obvious that it is time to get rid of it and start over. They won't. They will continue to try and cure a terminal animal. The Republicans need to tout long and loud an optional plan using the free economy that makes sense. 

2. The economy and jobs: I have joined the two because if you cure the economy, jobs will come back. Because the economy has been hit so hard for so long the emphasis must be on the Democratic failure. Especially the terrible job they did during the first four years when they owned the whole government. Turning the economy around now will be difficult and painful. But it must the Republicans must start the process or the country is in real danger.

3. The use of the IRS and the Census Bureau for political advantage: The use of government agencies to target those that are perceived as political enemies is both illegal and morally wrong. It has been done before but never on the scale that the Obama administration has achieved. Controlling the Census Bureau out of the White House to finagle the jobless figures coming into an election is equally illegal and reprehensible. These points need to be attacked viciously.

4. Benghazi: The Obama administration abandoned good men to die in one of the world's hell holes. They lied about the circumstances. When they were caught in the lie, they covered up. Little by little we are getting the story, but there are things still deeply hidden.

5. The contempt for the poor and middle class: In the past five years, the rich have gotten richer. Much richer. The rest of us have seen jobs disappear. We have seen salaries dwindle. Many have seen their full time jobs go to part time. Are most Americans better off now than they were five years ago? Not just no. Hell no.

The Republicans face an opportunity that they didn't expect to have. Can they exploit that opportunity with teamwork and intelligence? Or will they go back to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?


On a personal note, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The three Fs make it so. That is food, family, and football. Since there are so many people traveling over the extra long weekend, unless something drastic happens, I will take a few days off from my blog. I'll be back Sunday or Monday. In the meantime travel safe, cook good, and enjoy the holiday. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone.

I'm Going Where I've Never Gone Before

I never talk about products. Good or bad. If I did someone would think that I was bought and paid for. But I have to. I'm in love. I hate to admit it but I'm in love with Google. OK, as a company, they are not perfect. They have made mistakes. Who hasn't? I'm past that.

This love affair started innocently enough. When I needed information, I'd "google" it. I always got what I needed. It fulfilled my every request. Others came along, like Bing, and tried to get my loyalty. But I was into a successful relationship. I needed no other.

Then I started having serious problems with my Windows based computer. My service provider has a support service. I called them. They were excellent. After two hours on the phone, we almost had things straightened out. The tech I was working with had to leave. He said he would call me in the morning to finish up.

After he rang off, I started wondering if I might have a problem with my browsing software. I had Google Chrome installed on my machine. I shut down my old browser and booted up Chrome. The rest of my problems went away immediately. I loved Chrome. Our relationship had suddenly moved to a new level.

We had formed a stable long term relationship, Google and I. With my blog on Google Blogspot and with Chrome as my browser, there was daily interaction that satisfied my every need. It could have gone on this way forever, but my computer was getting older and I was having problems with malware and registration errors. I felt a need to prepare for the future.

I started seeing adds on TV for something called a Chromebook. They billed it as the future of computing. Your work is shared in the "cloud". It could never be lost. You could buy a brand new machine for less than three hundred dollars. That sounded wonderful.

I started doing due diligence. I went to my favorite etailer and read the specs. No hard drive to crash. Since you operate in the cloud memory is not an issue. Almost all of the software is free. All the basic stuff is preloaded. Google deals with viruses, malware, and all that other ugly stuff. It sounded almost to good to be true.

I discussed this with my daughters and their husbands. Three of the six are computer professionals and they're all computer competent. They were skeptical and made me present a solid case. 

Well, last week, I went to a birthday party. It happened to be mine. Lo and behold, my loving family gave me a Chromebook. We fired it up. Put in my Google password. Connected it to wi-fi. It immediately had all my links, all my favorite websites, all my Cranky Conservative blog, everything I needed. It was amazing.

I have been using it now for a few days and had to fire up my old machine to look at some old files. My Chromebook feels like a sports car as compared with my old machine that feels like a burned out old truck. I never thought I would say this publicly, but I love you Google.

Obama vs. Taqiyya

People have accused Barack Obama of being a Muslim. I take no position on this question. I can see into neither his heart nor his mind. What I do know, is that he spent his early years in a highly Muslim atmosphere. So I have no doubt in my mind that he knows exactly what the concept of taqiyya entails.

For those that have not come across this concept before, in the Koran, Muslims are allowed to lie to non-Muslims in order to advance Islam. So it is not only a right for them to say to western politicians whatever those politicians want to hear, it is a religious obligation.

In the past five years, Barack Obama's life has gone from pretty good, right down to abysmal. The constant series of scandals follow by the absolute debacle of Obamacare have taken him to lows that he never expected to see. He was the greatest President that the country ever had until he actually got the job and had to perform. At that point he got a severe case of Presidential Performance Anxiety. In other words, he just couldn't get it done.

Mr. Obama needed a win. He needed to see headlines that said "Hooray for Barack". So he called in his ever gullible vassal, John Kerry, and sent him forth to find some good headlines. It seems that both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Obama have kind feelings toward the Muslim world. They both thought that was a good place to start. Since Iran has a shiny new President who speaks softly and smiles our dynamic duo started a conversation with him.

And sure as God made little fishes after a few months of phone calls and conversations, they developed a budding friendship. They brought this newly found amity to Geneva for talks among all the major powers and Iran. And, surprise, surprise, they came out with a deal. Iran gets relief from the sanctions and the rest of the world gets a bunch of promises. I would score that Iran 1, the world 0. 

Remember taqiyya. Iran can promise the infidels, us, anything. Then they can go right on doing what ever they want to. They have been pulling our chain this way for years. But Obama has his headline and Iran has a lifting of sanctions. That makes two out of three happy. The rest of the world, not so much.

Rebranding, Really?

Sometime back, during one of his interminable speeches, President Obama used the term Obamacare. Then he gave one of his well rehearsed pauses. Gave a big grin, like a thought just entered his head that had never been there before. He looked at his audience and said "Obamacare, you know, I like that name, yeah".

I know what he was thinking. He was thinking that his devoted public was spontaneously naming this great new health care plan after him. Wow, for ever in the annals of history, it will be called Obamacare.

That was then. This is now. The wheels are falling off the cart and the ox has died. There is a very good chance that this journey is over. Republicans, even the RINOs, never climbed aboard the wagon for this trip.  And now many Democrats are jumping out of the back of the cart and running for the hills.

Those that live and work in the White House operate like a huge ocean liner. That is they do not change direction quickly or easily. They are caught up in an ideology that transcends all logic. To there minds, government control of health care is the goal. To accomplish this they will do or say just about anything. Barack Obama may be an ideologue, but he is not a fool. He realizes that the shinola is very near the rotor. He wants no back splash. As usual, he claims ignorance of the details and lines up those that will go under the bus.

So to improve Obamacare the first thing they will do is rebrand it. That should make those luckless souls that are losing their health care insurance feel a lot better. No Democrat, in the future, will allow the word "Obamacare" to pass their lips. They are once again exactly where they started out. Henceforth it is back to being "the Affordable Care Act. If there was ever a misnomer........ 

So while health care is in turmoil, turmoil that was unnecessary, they are forging ahead full steam. The only thing that they can think to do, is the equivalent of rearrangeing the deck chairs on the Titanic.

While we are talking about Obamacare and rebranding, there is another term that is bouncing around in the news to make people with big rate increases think that the government is on their side. (They aren't.) That term is "government subsidy". Their claiming that the government will help out with the increased cost of health care. But there is no such thing in the real world as a government subsidy. They would be giving you other peoples money. Money that they worked for. They take money away from people, that they have decided with their superior intellect, have more than they need and give it to those they think have been cheated in life's lottery.

So they mess up the economy even worse than it has been. They change a few words and were supposed to smile and say "thank you". No thank you! Jobs are down. The economy is not growing. Low interest rates and quantitative easing are building a huge financial bubble. While incomes for the poor and middle class are going down, the to ten percent are getting richer than ever. Does that sound like a government that is trying to help you? It sounds like the precursor to a huge financial explosion to me. Maybe we can just rebrand it.

Eighty Is Still Eighty

I read recently, that eighty is the new sixty. Don't you believe it. Your overweaning and totally manipulative government is redefining all the terms that we have been accustomed to living with. Full disclosure, I just turned seventy-five. So I have lived well into old age. I will tell you sixty is a lot better than seventy-five, never mind eighty. 

OK, so the government does not want to pay out Social Security to people in their sixties. The reason is that they have been raiding the Social Security Trust Fund for fifty years. In other words, they have been robbing you blind for fifty years. If they actually had a Social Security lock box, there would be plenty of money in the fund to pay all obligations and then some.

However, put money and politicians in the same room and the money will disappear. They care not a whit about you. They all have far more important uses for your money. If you feel that you can't believe me, just ask them what really important projects they are supporting right now. There will be no mention of your social security.

So they are spreading the word that eighty is the new sixty. Consider them the Johnny Appleseed of aches and pains. This is intended to keep you working until you croak out and never collect a penny.

There are so many problems there. Since most politicians never do a day's hard labor, (work to politicians is sitting in a comfy chair and talking), they have no clue what older Americans do to continue working.

If you had any kind of corporate middle management job, they started easing you out in your fifties. If you had a job of physical labor, your body probably gave up long before sixty. So if you are going to work into your seventies it will probably be "paper or plastic, maam?", or "can I king size that for you?" Really, would you like to see your mom or dad in that position?

Politicians don't care. They care about personal power and wealth. They will sacrifice you on the altar of big government, smile, and tell you they are making life better for millions. And I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you.

Wood Chopping Is A Knockout

The wood chopping in the title refers to peckerwoods. For those that aren't aware, that is a slang expression used by some in the black community to refer to whites. It is as crude as a white person using the "N" word. And, of course, if a white person were to use that epithet, they would be screamed at as a bigot. Rightfully so. Another term that is an equivalent to peckerwood is polar bear. They go polar bear hunting.

The object of their little game is to roam around in packs looking for a white or oriental that is alone, preferably old, crippled is even better. Then one of this group of malignant thugs, sneaks up behind this person and hits them in the head as hard as they can. All the while, the others take a video to post on line later to celebrate and show what great manly men they are. The point is to try to knock out this victim with one punch. If the person dies that gives even greater bragging rights.

Up until yesterday this practice has been only rarely written about in the newspapers or reported on TV. The black - white aspect of this little game was never mentioned in anything that I saw or heard. But, come to find out, this is reaching epidemic proportions. Once again, the main stream media has reneged on their duty to the public rather than be politically incorrect.

There have been a couple of occasions where the tables have been turned on these sparkling examples of young manhood. The bodies left on the ground ended up being the attackers not the intended victims. While these boy's families moan, cry, and complain that these were really wonderful boys just playing a little joke, I say, hooray, they got what they earned.

But where is the black race baiting leadership? Where is Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton? They could actually show some leadership in their communities right now. I suspect they will be conspicuous by their absence on this issue. It bites in the wrong direction for them. For that matter where is the President of the United States and his Attorney General? 

This must be stopped. The police must go after these evil little thugs and charge the with attempted murder. No assault charges or anything less than attempted murder because that is, in fact, their ultimate high.

Changes

I am a little less cranky today. My family gave me a shiny new Chromebook for my birthday. I have it up and running and I  love it. It is quick. I don't have to worry about viruses. So goodbye Windows. The transition will take a little time, so if it seems that I am a tad slow with new articles from time to time, bear with me. All will be well.

I used the title changes for this blog not only because I am changing platforms but also because we need some serious changes in our country. The government is out of control and has no respect for the country, the military, or even the American electorate. They duped the public to get into office and have been playing us for fools ever since.

The first thing that went out the window was respect for the law. Right from the beginning with "Fast and Furious", their gun running scheme into Mexico the law had no relevance in their plans. Coming up on the 2012 election they ordered the census bureau to fudge the figures on unemployment. They lied so Obama could win. They out and out lied. They have lied continuously about Obamascare. They knew that people would lose their health insurance. The knew that prices and deductibles would go up. And they knew the website was a mess. They did it through the dint of their over sized egos. And they thought we were so stupid and out of touch we wouldn't notice. We noticed. Check your poll figures Mr. Obama.

Then the, so called, "professor of Constitutional law" started ignoring the Constitution. Now just to back up for one point. My understanding is that he was an adjunct instructor, never a full professor. But the Constitution says that the President will faithfully exercise the laws of the land. Not Mr. Obama. He picks and chooses. It is his right since he is "the smartest President ever". He is a legend in the mind of his kool aid drinking cohorts. But the best part is when he takes the Obamascare law that was his pinnacle achievement and starts ripping that apart selecting the bits and pieces he wants. Giving exemptions to the connected. It just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

But the thing that endears him to my heart and the hearts of all right thinking Americans, (yes, the pun was intended) is that the man has never made a mistake. All those that came before him, all those around him, bear the burden of human failing. But like a God in the glow of a golden light, walks as the perfect one. In fact, if buses had never been invented, he would have had to invent them as something to throw people under. And that is why we need changes.   

A Manly Military

For the record, I was never in the military. I signed up for the draft at eighteen like most of my generation. I went for the physical and was rejected for a hearing problem. Having said that, I have always admired the military and was as proud as any little kid could be for my uncles that served in WWII. 

The military has done a lot of good for this country in so many ways. We were strong enough and proud enough that many who would have been our enemies chose a more peaceful path. Many young American men whose lives were going astray were saved by the military training system of "break them down and then build them back up". Many men and women that had no hope of an education in civilian life received both an education and a career compliments of the military.

For those reasons alone, the military deserves the deep and humble respect of every American. But I find that those with a more liberal mindset feel disdain for our military. They see it as unequal, sexist, achievement oriented, and far too removed from their nature to control. The problem is that to be effective the military must be an unequal, sexist, meritocracy.

The military is an organization designed to bring violence to those that would do us harm. To accomplish this, well trained people must do those harsh tasks that most do not want to do. It is not a nurturing society. At it's worst the life can be unendurably tough. At it's best it is regimented and rigid. Our culture could not survive without a powerful and well trained military.

As it must and should be, the control of the military is in the hands of civilians. There is a chain of command from the Commander in Chief, through the Secretary of Defense, down to the individual service Secretaries. When the people in these positions understand and value the military, all goes well. When they look down on the military and turn them into some kind of social experiment, things fall apart.

On the battlefield there is a thing called "Rules of Engagement". These rules tell the military what they can and can't do when they are under fire or in an attack mode. Too often these rules are written by lawyers and people that have never been in a live fire situation. The rules of engagement should favor and be protective of our war fighters, not the opposition.

Certainly there are some women out there that have battlefield capability. But there are not enough to make a general order allowing women into war on the front lines. This is not sexist but war fighting is generally man's work. They are usually bigger, stronger, and deal with violence more easily.

There are times when the old ways are still the best ways. I will never believe that a softer, gentler, more understanding military is the way to go. That old phrase that you are protected by "hard men doing hard things", makes sense. We really need a manly military.

Random Thoughts - Twenty-Nine

When, where, and how did Bill Clinton get to be the moral authority of the Democrat party? I mean he was impeached for lying.

And Elizabeth Warren is going up against Hillary? Didn't she claim that she was a native American to get a leg up on a job at Harvard?

Has anybody heard from John Boehner lately? Did he retire or something?

It is Friday November fifteenth and I just got a letter from my health insurance carrier that my cardiologist has been dropped. I have been with him for years. He is beyond competent. And I do no want to change. But apparently Obamascare decided that they were better equipped to pick my cardiologist than I was. So I called my insurance company and explained to them the no one less than the President of the United States assured me that " if I liked my doctor, I could keep my doctor". They checked and found that they were reversing their decision and keeping the program as is. They told me that they would let me keep my doctor. Whooee, ain't it fun when us real Americans put them political fools in Washington on the run. 

Dear God in heaven, the real honest people of these United States have got to rein in the idiots that we have allowed to screw up our country because we were to lazy or preoccupied to keep control. 


If the press isn't biased, why did Bush get such a beating over Katrina, but Obama gets a free pass on Sandy?

Did you hear the newest part of Obamascare that has come out? In the law the President is allowed to militarize medical care for the nation in an emergency. It will be under the control of the commissioned and non-commissioned officers of his civil military organization. Now that is chilling.

That loud splashing noise that you hear in the background is all the Democrats jumping ship. Sink or swim, folks. It looks like the ship hit an ice berg. 

Benghazi - Reminder Eleven

I said I would keep re-posting my original Benghazi blog until we started getting answers. In my total naivete, I stopped for a while 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. But lately the Benghazi scandal has been heating up again, in spite of the Obamascare debacle and all the other institutional missteps by his administration. Since my last re-post, it seems more likely that this was a weapons depot for arms going into Syria. It has also come out that the attackers new the layout of the buildings. Both exterior and interior, including where the safe room was. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a military operation with fore-planning and good intelligence. We are getting there but there is still a long way to go. My voice is one small voice, but I will keep trying.

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. If all that are like minded keep up the struggle for honesty and justice we will ultimately prevail. So my re-posts will continue. My original article follows. It was written over a year ago and we are still waiting for the answers we deserve.

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.

I am adding this on 10/19/ 2013. There were aircraft capable of dispersing the Benghazi attack available in Italy. There were F-16s that could have been overhead in 2 hours or less and there were AC-130 in one of their meaner variants like Spectre or Stinger that were around 4 hours out. They sacrificed these good men.

Will Liberalism Survive?

Charles Krauthammer has stated that the the end of liberalism may be neigh upon us. Dr. Krauthammer is a brilliant analyst of the political scene and we should thank God he is a conservative. But then, he is smart, so I guess he would have to be a conservative. But in this case, I humbly think that he is wrong.

In fairness, it is difficult to understand liberals. It is akin to a human being understanding the thought processes of a Tasmanian Devil, not to put too sharp a point on it. And generally, Dr. K does it about as well as it can be done. I'm sure his training as a psychiatrist is a major asset in these analysis.

OK, so why does an old blogger that no one has ever heard of disagree with the good doctor. This may seem a little over the top, but I liken the real hard left liberals to cockroaches. They do their work at night and in the dark. If someone shines a light on them, they do not suddenly become conservative. Or even middle of the road. No, the scuttle for the dark places where light never shows up their incipient weirdness. There they hide, biding their time.

They sneak out periodically when opportunity arises. They grab a little piece of the power structure. But they are quiet about it. You see, they know, love, and understand incrementalism. Something conservatives never really got. 

But liberals will always be there, working in the dark and nasty places where most of us don't want to go. The will breed. They will recruit. They will teach their doctrine to pudding headed young minds. The will accrue power and votes, a little at a time.

Suddenly, you will wake up one morning and find them all over the floor. The floor of the House. The floor of the Senate. And trying to run the whole show once again.

So I feel it is my duty to remind the good Doctor Krauthammer that there is no DDT for liberalism. "You may not  see them, but they can see you", as the commercial says. So keep one eye on the target and one on the nasty places, for they will be back. They will always be back.

How To Build A Building

Let's pretend that you are the CEO of a middle sized corporation. The Board of Directors has just voted to build a new and badly needed world headquarters which they expect to move into in four years. As they file out of the boardroom, they shake your hand and wish you good luck with your new construction project. OK, you've got the ball where do you run with it.

If it were me, I would call an immediate meeting with the VP in charge of facilities, the CFO, and the assistant VP that is going to be the corporate project supervisor. I would task the CFO to come up with a budget. I would task the facilities VP to look into what we would need in a new building to accommodate the people and services we would need for the next twenty years. I would task the asst. VP to find a possible site and to look into architects. Weekly meetings to keep the project moving.

In a week I would expect my group of four to be interviewing architects. Within three weeks, I would expect to have architectural sketches and proposed budgets with the intent of selecting an architect within the first month. That assistant VP that is heading up the project would have no other responsibility than the project and he would have the authority to call in whatever expertise he needed either from inside the company or outside. The group of four would meet weekly. 

You see that is how things are done in a well run business. Everything has a schedule. There is one central point of responsibility. From that central point information flows both upward and down to those involved on a daily basis. From concept to plans to execution of those plans to a finished building. It is hard and painstaking work. If it is done right everyone bears their responsibility. Shirk your responsibility, do a poor job, cut corners, there is no place to hide.

I have been a minor player in operations such as this. By the time the job was done I was exhausted. I am not in the least embarrassed to admit it. In my mind I cannot help but compare my experience against what I am seeing of the way Obamacare was handled. No one seem terribly invested. No one seems terribly stressed. No one seems terribly concerned.

It seems everybody was in charge but no one was directing traffic. No one seemed to be asking the right questions. They were just slapping a bunch of parts and pieces together without integration. And in the final analysis, while every one thought they were in charge, no one thought they had responsibility. But worst of all no information was being sent up to the man in charge, the President of the United States and he didn't seem to care.

Gamblers Pick Winners

The hallmark of success for a gambler is their ability to  pick winners. I'm talking about the true professional gamblers that are able to make a good living riding the odds. The people in Las Vegas that study sports teams, schmooze with their inside contacts, and weekly, produce spreads that are amazingly accurate. They are pros. They have to be or they would be out of business in a short time.

The professional poker player that survives on top year after year and becomes a TV star doing it, is a gambler. But like the sports books he is a technician and a psychologist. He can calculate odds and possible combinations in his head at blinding speed while watching his opponents for tells that will give the true pro the needed edge.

Gambling for a living is a rough life. It is not for most people. It takes a certain toughness to grind away day after day and hour after hour working your trade. It is harder and more exacting work than most people realize.

Politicians like to pick winners too. That is an activity that is supposed to be forbidden them. The are supposed to treat all equally. But they can't help themselves. Somehow, miraculously, when they invest our money in their ongoing quest to pick winners, their campaign coffers fill up with dollars, dollars, and more dollars. So everybody gains but us.

I think many politicians would like to be gamblers because they would make more money and get to hang around with a better class of people. But they would have to use their own money to be real gamblers. Really, who needs that when you can play with other peoples money? The big problem is that pols do not do the "due diligence" that should be done before they put our bucks on the line. That would be too much like real work. It is far easier and more profitable to take the leap on the advice of a friend, or even a friend of a friend. After all it's not important to win. What is important is convincing the rubes back home that you are trying to win.

This, of course, is why we have debacles like Solyndra and Tesla and all of those other green energy companies that never had a business plan that ended in success but did end up in bankruptcy after getting our millions. That is why you have banks that were near failing sitting on tons of public money shoring  up their cash position without improving their bottom line. That is why you have a stock market that is riding high in a down economy based solely on quantitative easing.

The government has not been a true and honest guardian of our country's wealth, public or private. The end will be ugly. It will not be the politicians that pay. It will be us. And the less you have, the harsher the price tag will be. In coming elections, we must be like professional gamblers. We must do our homework and pick winners not phonies.

Save Health Care Now

Health care does not need to be saved. It is all still there. The hospitals, the clinics, most of the doctors are still providing health care. Even the doctors that have left would be willing to come back in most cases. The most structural damage has been done to the insurance carriers. Except for those selected as winners by the Obama administration the industry is in a shambles. 

The people that run insurance companies know their field and know their products. If a new product is required they can put one together in reasonable time too satisfy a market. The problem in the past has been the inability to sell healthcare insurance across state lines. So if the government could acquire the good sense to realize that they have created an unsustainable monster that the public hates and shut it down right now, then open up the market nationally to insurance providers we all might be saved. 

The government will not do this. More directly, Barack Obama will not allow this to be done. He has convinced himself that this is going to leave him in a light of glory. It will not. Medical care will deteriorate. Good medical care will be available to fewer people than before this mess started. People will die. People will be denied treatment by allocation committees. 

Medical progress will stultify because government controlled health care will not reward innovation. It is competition to get the new and the better that drove improvements in health care. They have deleted that competition from the market place.

There will be fewer doctors. The cost of a medical education is enormous. If those that wish to be doctors do not see a financial reward to their efforts they will seek other professions. And who can blame them.  They would be buried in masses of paperwork with their fees controlled by those that require this paperwork.

Politicians do not have a great record for managing things well. Look at all the scandals that are thrown at us week after week. Can we accept that suddenly they will be the great administrators of health care. I think not. So while it is not too late, save health care now.

God Help the Phillipines

The Philippines have been devastated. It is a terrible tragedy. They need help from every source. But every source that I see has kind words but no action except the United States military. Almost immediately they had planes on the ground with supplies and people to help. The Pope offered prayers. Did he offer money, supplies, people? Where is the new "most powerful man in the world", Vladimir Putin? What has he contributed?  Where is France? Where are any of the Muslim countries that claim alms are a pillar of their religion? Where is any world power except the United States?

It is easy to disrespect us. We are an easy people. We are inclined to go along to get along. But underestimate us at your own risk. We are there to help. Do not ever accept this as a sign of weakness. It is a sign of the great character of the American people. 

You may see us as weak, fat, and easy. You are wrong. We are strong, unified, and will defeat any enemy. We are America!

Jobs and Health Care

What is the same about jobs and health care? People that had them, when Obama came into office, don't have them now. I read this morning that last month 204,000 jobs were created in the economy. That is more than were projected. But the unemployment rate remains at 7.3 %. It keeps ticking back and forth between 7.2 % and 7.3%. How is this possible, you ask, that with all those jobs created there is no decrease in the unemployment rate? Because 720,000 Americans left the work force. True, some of these people just gave up trying to find work. Many just ran out of unemployment benefits. As soon as they are no longer collecting unemployment, they no longer exist to the government. That is the only reason that the unemployment figures aren't around 14 %. Now think back to that historical time when our President took office. He promised that he would not rest until he brought good jobs back to the American people. And we all know how much his promises mean to him.

So here we are five years later, and there are fewer Americans employed than when Jimmy Carter was in office. Now, I have seen the President working night and day, every single day of his administration making speeches, golfing, flying around on Air Force One, vacationing, denying responsibility for any of the problems that he helped create. The one thing that I haven't seen him do is anything that will bring back honest jobs. He has, however, managed to turn many of the jobs that were left from full time into part time. Way to go, Mr. Obama! David's Bridal just cut 2,500 jobs back to thirty hours from forty hours. Promises, promises, promises.

After years of unequivocal promises from Mr. Obama, people are losing there health care. Then he has the gall to stand in front of us and say that he did not say those words that we all heard come out of his mouth. Does he think we are stupid? He must. The worst part is that this wasn't necessary. It is nothing but a bold faced governmental power grab. Ninety percent of the population had health care insurance that they were comfortable with. They had no problem. They neither wanted nor needed the government to start their meddling. The last ten percent, about thirty-million people were uninsured. Many didn't want to be. Many couldn't afford it. For about one quarter of what they have already spent on Obamacare, they could have started an insurance pool for the indigent and just picked up their medical bills. But for the glory of one man's ego they have trashed a whole health insurance system and replaced it with a Frankenstein monster that they have placed in the hands of amateurs. 

This system will never work right if it works at all. It gives the government too much power, too much control, and too much personal information. This debacle has taken Americans from being free citizens into being subjects of whoever rules. That was Obama's promise to himself. 

Letters To The Editor - One

I have expanded the staff here at Cranky Conservative. We now have someone to cope with letters to the editor. Her name is Acerbia Pontificate, and we are pleased to acquire her services. Acerbia is a graduate of one of the famed women's universities, know as the Twelve  Aunts. She has advanced degrees in minority studies, women's studies, and personal relationships. She comes to us from a media career as the manager of the want ads section of a free local shoppers newspaper, where she turned the want ads section into a profit center by including a personal ads section for young ladies seeking to start a career. Recently she was cut back to thirty hours and lost her health care insurance. So she is willing to work for food and the occasional over the counter medicine if she should get sick. Welcome aboard Acerbia.


Dear Cranky, 

I adore the President. He is so cute. And I love the sound of his voice. That is my problem. Every time he is on TV, I am compelled to sit and listen to every word he says. Which means, that I spend almost full time in front of my TV. Thank God for Air Force One. At least when he is flying I get a chance to grab a sandwich and use the facilities, if you get my drift.

But because of my devotion to my new messiah, I have lost my job. That wasn't too bad because I met this lovely young woman from some group called ACORN. She arranged for me to get welfare, section eight housing, food stamps, and an Obamaphone. Life was good.

 But now they are cutting back on food stamps and my Obamaphone no longer makes free overseas phone calls. Is my dear Barack angry with me? Am I about to be dumped? What should I do.

Signed: Messed up in Memphis 

Dear Messed, 

I hate to tell you this Messed, but he has dumped all of us. I understand your pain. For a while I felt the same way. He is not angry. He is busy. He makes up stories that make him look good and tell his supporters what they want to hear. But these stories never seem to work out as he wants them to. See as a child, he loved that movie line "wishing will make it so". He believed it and still does. See, he never quite grew up. So he is busy making up new stories to explain the old. So buck up. You can probably squeeze a few more years of a free ride out of this.

Acerbia

Be Prepared

No, this is not about the Boy Scouts. It is about politics. It is about yesterday's election. And it is about some things that I am still trying to figure out. Maybe a few observations would help me to put my thoughts in order. They are a little jumbled right now. The Democrats are better politicians than the Republicans. They are better prepared and better organized. They seem to have an organizational chart and a plan of the day, every day. They have daily talking points that are strictly adhered to by everyone that comes before a camera or microphone. And I do mean everyone. Sometimes they even use the same wording.

Where I get confused is, who writes the talking points? Who is in charge of the organizational chart? Where do the daily orders come from? The people that go before the cameras are not the authors. Most of them are not smart enough. They have too much public exposure. They are too busy, their time is not their own. So this, to me, is something to ponder. Although I am pretty sure all of this goes through the DNC, I doubt that it starts there. I'm betting on a highly controlled "think tank" that is very well funded and highly motivated.

Terry McAuliffe will be the new governor of Virginia. He entered this election with a lot of baggage. So much so, that I was surprised when he announced his candidacy. If he were a Republican, the press and the Democrat establishment would have shredded him. As it was, it turned out to be a very narrow win for him. In fact, if there hadn't been a third candidate in the race McAuliffe would, most likely, have lost. It is now being said, that the third candidate was heavily financed by the Democrat organization. Sneaky? Yes. Expensive? Yes. Effective? Very. They won with a damaged candidate.

An article that appeared this morning praised Hillary Clinton as brilliant for leaving the Obama administration when she did. It gave her the separation from Obamacare that she needs to complete a successful run for President. Personally, I think that she made a mistake taking the Secretary of State job at all. She was doing well as Senator. Now she has a record as a poor Secretary of State and Benghazi hanging over her. I think that the McAuliffe run for governor was to support Hillary's run for President. He is a creature of the Clinton administration. While you would have expected Bill and Hill running to Virginia to be involved in McAuliffe's campaign, Barack Obama also showed up to show his support. That is a little bit surprising when you think about the tension in those two camps. This speaks to me of another entity directing traffic, thinking only about the party.

So the games begin. The Dems are building up their preparations by the hour. The Republicans will be squabbling right down to, and possibly through, the National Convention. Then they will split into factions. Each one angry that they are not the anointed. They will attack each other rather than unify for the good of the party and allow the Democrats to do even more harm. If that is conceivable. As I see it now, there is only one thing out there that could make a huge change in everyone's perspective. There is a great financial bomb out there that the Democrats have created. If that blows up before the next election, everything changes. And for that we should all be prepared. 

Lessons Learned In Childhood

When I was very young, I was taught that people make mistakes. None of us is perfect. It may be because of carelessness or a lack of experience. That does not matter. It is still a mistake. We are taught to man up. Take responsibility and corrective action. Then move on. Most mistakes can be fixed. All can be forgiven. I have learned that people respect a man that will stand up and admit his imperfections.

I am sure that you can see where this is heading. For five long years now, we have been exposed to only the second perfect person that has ever lived. In a five year stretch filled with errors, miscalculations, and every kind of obfuscation that can be used to describe a mistake, they have flowed like water around a boulder but never getting Mr. Obama wet.

It must be a wonderful thing to have so many people around you that you can shed the blame on. Of course they are only little people. They don't really matter in the greater scheme of things. And there is always some minion right there with a towel should there be any splash that dampened the anointed ones shoes.

So we have had five years of scandal, mismanagement, bad planning, and high level political rock throwing. We all acknowledge that Obama is blessed with a compliant press corp that will only report things as seen through the President's eyes. So play it down, cover it up, and wait for the new headlines that will arrive in a few days to further distract tired Americans who are just trying to survive, as their lives and their country are going down the tube in service of political expediency.

As people are struggling harder in their daily existence, the Executive Branch takes more and more power unto itself. Through a combination of Presidential Order, over reaching regulation, and willfully ignoring the limitations of the Constitution President Obama has taken us from a royal presidency to a sovereign presidency. Unfortunately we have a congress that is either unwilling or unable to place appropriate limits on presidential activity as the Constitution obliges them.

It appears that we have a President that is like a child who is never told no. Enough is enough. When you are never told what your limits are, you have none. For most of us these are simply lessons learned in childhood.

Understanding Redistribution Of Wealth

I will admit that there are somethings that I am a little slow to grasp. Apparently "Redistribution of wealth" is one of them. I thought that I understood it. I never agreed with it. It is wrong. It's just flat out wrong. What is yours is yours. What is mine is mine. Simple and honest. I think most people will agree that even the government must "take a dip". We do need a government. Just one far smaller and less intrusive than the one we have now.

But I thought that redistribution was meant to take a little bit from those that have done well and pass it along to those that have had more difficult times. Now while that can be a worthwhile goal, it is probably not a goal government should be involved in. When government tries to be a charity, it is neither governmental nor charitable. It becomes restrictive, controlling, and sunk in an overabundance of paperwork. More often, it becomes a work program for those that graduated with degrees in sociology.

But today we are faced with the first administration that has actively and forcefully attempted redistribution. Somehow, however, they have gotten it inside out or backwards or something. It appears to me that the redistribution is going far different from anything that I considered it may have been. The first thing that happened, is that the price of fuel doubled within a very short period after this administration took office. Who was harmed? Not the rich. They could afford fuel even if the price doubled again. It was the poor and middle class that took the brunt of that hit. Who benefited? The oil companies benefited. Higher prices, higher profits. The government benefited. More tax money to spend. The banks and green companies benefited. That is where a great deal of the money that went to the government landed.

Now we have Obamacare. Health care represents one sixth of the economy. There are huge dollars involved here. And suddenly, in spite of often repeated promises, people are losing their health care insurance. Those that have seen what their new insurance will be find themselves paying more with larger deductibles. Who is harmed? Not the rich. They can afford it. Once again, the poor and the middle class take the hit. Who benefits? The insurance companies temporarily. But they are ultimately in the sights of the administration. 

Liberal politicians want a one payer system. That one payer would be the government. They would set the rates we pay. They would collect the money. They would control payments to providers. They would control what health care would be provided and what would be disallowed. They would control the Sword of Damocles, and that sword would be hanging over all of our collective heads. Mean while they could, and would, spend that huge inflow of cash where ever they wished. Now we all understand the redistribution of wealth.

Random Thoughts Twenty-Eight

I have written in the past in a highly negative manner about wind farms. Other than the proven fact that they kill protected bird species without repercussion, I feel they will eventually be abandoned and turn into a blight on the landscape. On the Science Channel there is a show called "How Do They Do That". They had a segment about the maintenance of wind farms in the Netherlands. They referred to the workers that went up on these towers to work as "dare devils". I cannot disagree with that appraisal. After seeing how difficult, expensive, and dangerous it is to care fore these unsightly machines, I am even more convinced of my position.

I must give applause to the bearded wonders of baseball, my beloved Boston Red Sox. It was an amazing season and it produced the best baseball that I have ever watched in my lifetime. I cannot express how much I want to see them repeat. Well earned and well deserved, gentlemen. Thank you for a most entertaining season.

They are shutting down the Obamacare website tonight. I'm sure they will bring it back up at some point. I doubt it will be in days and maybe not weeks. I was called in one time to make someone else's program work. The only way that I could make it work was to throw out the old program and do a complete reprogram. I would not be shocked to see that here.

President Obama just wrote a Presidential Order allowing him to control all governmental functions involved in climate change at all levels. If there's a flood Obama's in charge. Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, heavy snowfall, forest fires, if nature does it Obama's in charge of it. I'm sure he will treat these incidents with all the care and planning that went into Obamacare. Now show respect. I don't want to hear any of you using the phrase "power hungry zealot". That would be rude.

I have lost track, is there any country left out there that still considers the United State a firm ally and friend. I can't, off the top of my head, think of any foreign government that we haven't angered. Maybe Japan, but they are still busy trying to cover up the fact that they now glow in the dark.

Did you ever have a spark plug blow out while you were driving? Startling to say the least.

Two Little Things

Actually they are not two little things. They are rather big things in the overall scheme. I had intended to take the day off from writing, but two things in the news this morning got my attention. And of course, as usual, they involve our President. What lately doesn't? These two points, in my opinion, show how much Barack Obama has degraded the office that he holds. An office that is revered by the American people but far less so by it's current occupant.

The first thing that came to my attention was that the President holds fairly frequent, off the record, private discussions with reporters. This buddying up to reporters, without fear that what he says will be headline news, is just wrong. And it is even more wrong for reporters to accept these invitations. The relationship between the press and politicians should be slightly adversarial. A reporter that feels pumped up because he is one of the cool kids and on the inside, is not doing his job. Make no mistake, the President is expert at using people. As long as you are useful he will say and do what he has to to keep you in the fold. When that ends, it's under the bus for you, Dude. And don't look back.

Another part of this whole unseemly situation is that the President's staff passes out posed heroic looking photographs to the media. The media uses them as photos taken in hard news situations. This goes beyond bizarre and well into controlling. The media is supposed to hold rein on our politicians, not aid and abet. Where are the editors and owners that allow this to happen.

The second thing that attracted my attention was an article by F. Michael Maloof about how the President is decimating the upper ranks of our military. It seems that Mr. Obama has purged almost two hundred high ranking officers in the past five years. Mr. Obama is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. No one questions that. He is within his Constitutional rights. No one questions that either. But what I question is the wisdom of weakening our military in a very threatening world. The American people have always lived with the tenet of "peace through strength". Unfortunately there have been times when politicians over reached and used the military as a salve to their personal ambition.

To weaken the military today through a combination of purging the leadership and political correctness is foolish and hazardous to our future. Too much harm has come to our country in the past five years in a desperate grab of political power. I hope the media and the American people wake up soon before these two little things bury us.